GHRSST Level 2P: Sea Surface Temperature from VIIRS on S-NPP Satellite

Suomi NPP satellite data starting from its launch on 28 October 2011 provides global daily sea surface temperature measurements. The Level 2P product delivers SST at native sensor resolution (~0.75 km at nadir) using NOAA's ACSPO system, with data reported in 10-minute granules totaling 27GB per day. SST is retrieved from destriped brightness temperatures using Multi-Channel SST (night) and Non-Linear SST (day) algorithms, and includes per-pixel clear-sky masking and error statistics.

Use Cases

• Monitoring ocean heat content and climate patterns based on global daily SST coverage.
• Validating ocean circulation and weather forecast models using the ancillary NCEP global weather forecast data.
• Identifying cloud cover and atmospheric conditions using the M5 and M7 band reflectances provided for cloud identification.
• Assessing thermal fronts in oceanography using the algorithmically added thermal front layers.

Strengths

• Provides global daily coverage from a polar-orbiting satellite with a 3,060 km swath width.
• Delivers data at high native sensor resolution (~0.75 km at nadir) with 144 granules per day.
• Includes per-pixel quality flags, clear-sky masks, and sensor-specific error statistics (SSES bias and standard deviation).
• Employs destriping and resampling algorithms to minimize bow-tie distortions and deletions.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as exact row count, specific column names, and license information is unavailable across all sources.
• The dataset's update frequency is not explicitly stated, though a last updated date of 2026-03-05 is provided on one platform.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce, via the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).

Collection Method

Derived from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite using NOAA's Advanced Clear-Sky Processor for Ocean (ACSPO) system.

Time Range

From 28 October 2011 (S-NPP launch) onward.

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-03-05 according to datagov.

Geography

Global coverage.