North Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature from NOAA-17 AVHRR

NOAA-17 satellite data from 2002 onward provides sea surface temperature measurements for the North Atlantic Region. The dataset is produced by the EUMETSAT Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility and is part of the GHRSST initiative. It features 2 km resolution mosaics derived from AVHRR sensor data, with an operational cloud mask applied.

Use Cases

• Analyzing spatial and temporal sea surface temperature patterns in the North Atlantic using the 2 km resolution grid.
• Validating ocean circulation and climate models with satellite-derived bulk SST measurements.
• Studying diurnal temperature cycles using twice-daily observations from the sun-synchronous NOAA-17 platform.
• Applying the multi-spectral threshold cloud mask to isolate clear-sky ocean temperature data.

Strengths

• Provides high-resolution data with a ground resolution of 1.1 km at nadir, remapped to a 2 km stereopolar grid.
• Features an operational cloud mask based on a cited multi-spectral thresholding algorithm (Derrien and Le Gleau 1999).
• Data originates from the long-operational AVHRR sensor lineage, tracing back to 1978.

Limitations

• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (2010-03-22 on NASA Earthdata vs. 2026-03-05 on Data.gov).
• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• The exact temporal coverage start date is implied but not explicitly stated for the entire dataset.

Provenance

Source

European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (OSI SAF).

Collection Method

Sea surface temperature fields derived from direct broadcast High Resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT) data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on the NOAA-17 satellite, remapped onto a stereopolar grid.

Time Range

2002 onward (from NOAA-17 launch date, 24 Jun 2002).

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:41:32.003895

Geography

North Atlantic Region (NAR).