Global Sea Surface Skin Temperature from Suomi-NPP VIIRS Satellite

Daily global coverage from the Suomi-NPP satellite's Visible and Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) provides sea surface skin temperature data. NASA, NOAA, and academic partners produce these files as part of the GHRSST project, with data stored in approximately 288 five-minute granules per day. The dataset includes separate day and night skin SST products, with a triple-channel SST product available for nighttime observations.

Use Cases

• Calibrate ocean circulation models using the 750m resolution skin sea surface temperature (SST) field.
• Analyze diurnal temperature cycles by comparing the day SST and night SST_triple product fields.
• Train models to detect oceanic fronts or eddies from the spatially continuous global SST data.
• Validate climate model outputs against the long-term, satellite-derived SST time series.
• Study sun glint effects on remote sensing by contrasting usable 3.7 micron channel data (night only) with daytime restrictions.

Strengths

• Provides full global coverage each day from a polar-orbiting satellite.
• Data has a 750-meter spatial resolution at nadir from VIIRS moderate-resolution bands.
• Includes multiple derived products: day skin SST, night skin SST, and a nighttime triple-channel SST (SST_triple).

Limitations

• The triple-channel SST_triple product is only available for nighttime observations due to sun glint interference.
• Algorithm development and quality flagging support from RSMAS ceased in mid-August 2018, potentially affecting subsequent maintenance.
• Specific temporal coverage, row count, and update recency are not provided in the input.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the VIIRS instrument on the Suomi-NPP spacecraft, processed to GHRSST L2P netCDF specification.

Time Range

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Freshness

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Geography

Global ocean coverage.