IMOS Himawari-8 L3C: Hourly Sea Surface Temperature for Australasia

IMOS provides a regional GHRSST Level 3 collated dataset of sea surface temperature (SST) on a 0.02-degree grid over the Australasian domain (70E to 190E, 70S to 20N). The Bureau of Meteorology produces this product from reprocessed multi-swath SSTskin retrievals from the Himawari-8 satellite's AHI imager, composited nightly. Data is processed every 10 minutes using the RTTOV12.3 Radiative Transfer Model and a Bayesian cloud clearing method, then remapped to the IMOS grid.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean-atmosphere heat exchange based on hourly SSTskin data.
• Analyzing diurnal warming cycles in coastal waters based on the 10-minute processing and hourly compositing.
• Validating regional ocean circulation models based on the 0.02-degree gridded SST product.
• Monitoring marine heatwave events in the Australasian domain based on the reprocessed, quality-controlled data.

Strengths

• Data is produced on a high-resolution 0.02-degree grid covering a large Australasian domain (70E to 190E, 70S to 20N).
• SST retrievals are processed every 10 minutes using the RTTOV12.3 Radiative Transfer Model and a Bayesian cloud clearing method.
• The product is compliant with the GHRSST Data Specification (GDS) version 2, ensuring interoperability.
• Reprocessed multi-swath data is composited over night periods, likely providing quality-controlled values.

Limitations

• 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.
• Freshness should be verified despite the listed last update date of 2026-07-10.

Provenance

Source

Bureau of Meteorology, produced for the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS).

Collection Method

SST retrievals from the AHI imager on board the Himawari-8 satellite, processed using the ESA CCI SST code from the University of Reading.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 01:21:41.389281; product is produced in real time and delayed mode.

Geography

Australasian domain (70E to 190E, 70S to 20N).