North Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature from NOAA-19 Satellite

NOAA-19 satellite's AVHRR sensor provides sea surface temperature measurements for the North Atlantic Region, remapped to a 0.02-degree grid. The data is produced by EUMETSAT's Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (OSI SAF) as part of the GHRSST project. It offers twice-daily coverage due to the satellite's sun-synchronous orbit and 2400 km swath width.

Use Cases

• Analyzing daily sea surface temperature patterns in the North Atlantic using the 0.02-degree gridded SST fields.
• Tracking marine heatwaves by examining temporal changes in the subskin temperature data derived from AVHRR infrared channels.
• Validating ocean circulation models by comparing simulated SST with satellite-derived observations from the NOAA-19 platform.
• Studying cloud masking effectiveness by assessing SST retrieval accuracy in the processing chain described.

Strengths

• Data originates from the AVHRR/3 instrument with a high native resolution of 1.1 km at nadir.
• Processing includes a dedicated cloud mask applied to the Level 1b data before SST retrieval, improving data quality.
• The dataset is part of the international GHRSST project, indicating standardized processing and cross-platform importance.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last update date, with one listing 2013-11-20 and another listing a future date of 2026-03-05, casting doubt on metadata accuracy.
• The license information is unknown, which may restrict clear understanding of usage rights.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Derived from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Level 1b data acquired via the EUMETCAST system, processed with cloud masking and SST retrieval algorithms.

Time Range

Coverage begins after the NOAA-19 satellite launch on February 6, 2009. Specific end date is unknown.

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:31:33.537807

Geography

North Atlantic Region (NAR).