GHRSST NOAA/STAR GOES-17 ABI: Sea Surface Temperature Grids

GOES-17 satellite provides hourly sea surface temperature grids compliant with GHRSST standards, but data is limited to 13 one-hour granules per day due to a sensor issue. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration produces this Level 3 collated product, which includes layers for SST, clear-sky mask, wind speed, and sensor error statistics. Valid SSTs are reported over water bodies, with fill values elsewhere.

Use Cases

• Monitoring ocean temperature anomalies based on the gridded SST layers.
• Assessing satellite sensor performance based on the reported bias and standard deviation error statistics.
• Studying diurnal SST variations based on the hourly granule frequency.
• Masking cloud-covered areas for analysis based on the included clear-sky mask layer.
• Correlating SST with wind patterns based on the included NCEP wind speed data.

Strengths

• Data is compliant with GHRSST Data Specification version 2, ensuring interoperability.
• Includes additional validated layers such as clear-sky mask, wind speed, and sensor error statistics per pixel.
• Granules are provided hourly, offering fine temporal resolution during available intervals.

Limitations

• Data coverage is incomplete, with only 13 granules available per 24-hour interval due to a sensor loop heat pipe issue.
• Data over internal waters may not have enough in situ validation, as noted in the description.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Gridded version (Level 3 Collated) of the ACSPO GOES-17 Advanced Baseline Imager Level 2P product.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-05 23:51:43.292961; freshness should be verified.

Geography

America Region, covering oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers.