Global Sea Surface Skin Temperature from NASA Terra MODIS Satellite

NASA's Terra satellite provides global sea surface skin temperature measurements at a 1-kilometer spatial resolution. Data is collected in 288 five-minute granules daily, achieving full global coverage every two days. This GHRSST L2P product is a joint effort by NASA JPL, the Ocean Biology Processing Group, and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Use Cases

• Analyzing diurnal temperature variation by comparing daytime skin SST with nighttime SST4 product.
• Validating ocean circulation models using the 1 km resolution geospatial temperature fields.
• Studying polar ocean dynamics using the complete daily coverage available poleward of 32.3 degrees latitude.
• Investigating sun glint effects on infrared measurements by examining the availability constraints of the SST4 product.
• Assessing long-term SST trends from the R2019.0 reprocessed data record, which supersedes the R2014.0 version.

Strengths

• Provides two distinct SST products: a day/night skin SST and a lower-uncertainty nighttime SST4.
• Offers high spatial resolution of 1 kilometer at nadir from MODIS infrared channels.
• Delivers 288 data granules per day, enabling detailed temporal analysis.
• Achieves complete daily coverage in polar regions (poleward of 32.3 degrees).

Limitations

• The SST4 product, which has lower uncertainty, is only available for night observations due to sun glint interference.
• Full global coverage is not daily; it is obtained every two days for lower latitudes.
• Specific row counts, file sizes, and data volume metrics are not provided in the description.

Provenance

Source

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG), Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS).

Collection Method

Derived from Infrared channels of the MODIS sensor on the NASA Terra satellite, processed to the GHRSST L2P specification.

Time Range

Data collection began after Terra satellite launch on December 18, 1999; the current product version is R2019.0.

Freshness

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Geography

Global coverage.