Global Sea Surface Temperature from MetOp-C Satellite AVHRR

Global sea surface temperature data derived from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer on the European MetOp-C satellite. This Level 2P dataset provides multi-channel SST retrievals at approximately 1.1 km native resolution, produced in real-time by the US Naval Oceanographic Office for operational oceanographic analysis and forecasting. The MetOp program, a joint ESA and EUMETSAT initiative with NOAA sensor contribution, provides sun-synchronous observations covering a 2400 km swath.

Use Cases

• Operational oceanographic forecasting using the multi-channel sea surface temperature retrievals.
• Climate monitoring by analyzing thermal radiation data from the 11 and 12 micron AVHRR channels.
• Satellite data validation by comparing derived SST with in-situ measurements.
• Studying diurnal temperature cycles using twice-daily sun-synchronous observations from the MetOp platform.
• Regional ocean heat content analysis leveraging the global coverage and 1.1 km nadir resolution.

Strengths

• Provides global coverage with a wide 2400 km sensor swath.
• Offers high spatial resolution with approximately 1.1 km ground resolution at nadir.
• Supports operational use by the US Naval Oceanographic Office, indicating reliability.
• Utilizes multi-spectral data from AVHRR's 5-6 channels, including the critical 11 and 12 micron thermal bands.

Limitations

• Specific row count, total size, and complete column schema are unknown across all platforms.
• Data resolution degrades significantly off-nadir.
• The 'last updated' date of 2026-04-01 appears inconsistent as a future date, suggesting potential metadata errors.

Provenance

Source

Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST), US Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO).

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on the MetOp-C satellite, processing level-1B data to Level 2P SST retrievals.

Time Range

Coverage from at least the MetOp-C launch date of 7 November 2018 onward.

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:04:52.248334

Geography

Global.