GSSTFYC: Yearly Climatology of Ocean Surface Turbulent Fluxes at 1x1 Degree

A Goddard Satellite-based Surface Turbulent Fluxes dataset provides yearly climatology estimates of latent heat flux, sensible heat flux, and wind stress over the global ocean. The Version 2c (GSSTF2c) data, produced by a NASA MEaSURES project led by Dr. Chung-Lin Shie, corrects for sensor artifacts found in earlier versions. Data are projected on a global 1x1 degree grid, resulting in 360x180 cell arrays.

Use Cases

• Analyzing climate variability based on the yearly temporal and one-degree spatial resolution.
• Validating ocean surface turbulent flux models based on the latent heat flux (LHF) and sensible heat flux (SHF) components.
• Studying trends in oceanic evaporation and freshwater input based on the corrected flux estimates.
• Comparing satellite-derived flux products with other datasets based on the intercomparison history mentioned.

Strengths

• Version 2c corrects for temporal trends in input brightness temperatures, improving the reliability of latent heat flux estimates.
• Data is provided on a consistent global 1x1 degree grid (360x180 cells).
• Dataset is part of a NASA MEaSURES project, indicating a stewardship commitment.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The description notes a finer resolution (0.25 deg) is available as Version 3.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Satellite-based retrieval algorithm using corrected SSM/I brightness temperatures.

Time Range

Yearly climatology (specific years not stated).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 01:47:56.827780; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage over oceans.