GHRSST Level 3C: Atlantic Sub-Skin Sea Surface Temperature from MSG/SEVIRI

GHRSST Level 3C sea surface temperature data for the Eastern Atlantic Region, produced by the OSI SAF using the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager on the Meteosat Second Generation satellite. The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites processes SST from infrared channels every 15 minutes, remapping results to a 0.05-degree grid. The dataset is compliant with the GHRSST Data Specification version 2.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean heat content and climate patterns based on sub-skin sea surface temperature measurements.
• Validating and calibrating numerical weather prediction models using near-real-time SST data.
• Studying diurnal warming cycles and thermal fronts based on 15-minute temporal resolution.
• Analyzing regional and seasonal atmospheric biases in satellite-derived SST retrievals.

Strengths

• Data is produced in near real-time from an operational satellite system (MSG/SEVIRI).
• SST is retrieved using a multispectral algorithm corrected with atmospheric profiles from a numerical weather model.
• Observations are aggregated hourly from 15-minute slots and remapped to a consistent 0.05-degree regular grid.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML projects.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the Eastern Atlantic Region (60S-60N, 60W-60E) coverage.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

SST retrieved from SEVIRI infrared channels (10.8 and 12.0 micrometer) using a multispectral algorithm, with atmospheric correction from a numerical weather prediction model.

Time Range

Covers data from the MSG-3 satellite launched 5 July 2012; temporal resolution is hourly products from 15-minute observations.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:40:53.512718; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Eastern Atlantic Region, remapped over a 0.05-degree grid (60S-60N and 60W-60E).