GOES-13 Sea Surface Temperature: Hourly Gridded Data for the Americas Region

A regional dataset for the Americas (60S-60N, 135W-15W) providing sea surface temperature (SST) measurements. The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (OSI SAF) produces these products in near real time from the GOES-13 satellite imager. SST is retrieved from infrared channels using a multispectral algorithm, corrected with atmospheric model data, and remapped to a 0.05-degree grid every hour.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean-atmosphere heat exchange based on sub-skin sea surface temperature measurements.
• Analyzing diurnal temperature cycles based on data aggregated from 30-minute satellite retrievals.
• Validating numerical weather prediction models based on regionally and seasonally bias-corrected SST fields.
• Monitoring marine heatwave events in the Americas region based on the 0.05-degree regular grid.

Strengths

• Data is produced in near real time, supporting timely analysis.
• SST retrieval uses a multispectral algorithm corrected for regional and seasonal biases with atmospheric model data.
• Products are compliant with the GHRSST Data Specification (GDS) version 2, ensuring interoperability.

Limitations

• SST retrieval is not possible in daytime conditions due to the lack of a 12 micrometer channel on the GOES-13 imager.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and total dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

SST retrieved from GOES-13 infrared channels, corrected with atmospheric profiles from a numerical weather prediction model, and remapped to a grid.

Time Range

Near real time, with data aggregated hourly from 30-minute satellite slots.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:40:26.172174; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Americas region (60S to 60N, 135W to 15W).