Multi-sensor sea surface temperature data derived from VIIRS and AVHRR sensors on NOAA, Metop, and Suomi-NPP satellites. The product is a one-month average, composited on a 0.02-degree grid covering the region from 3E to 158W and 27S to 78S. It is provided by the Australian Ocean Data Network via IMOS.
Use Cases
- Analyzing sea surface temperature trends in the Southern Ocean based on monthly averaged satellite data.
- Modeling ocean-atmosphere heat exchange based on SSTfnd values corrected for sensor-specific biases.
- Studying the impact of surface wind speed on sea surface temperature readings based on the described day/night wind speed thresholds.
- Comparing temperature data quality across different satellite platforms (VIIRS, AVHRR) based on the compositing method.
Strengths
- Data is derived from multiple satellite sensors (VIIRS and AVHRR), likely increasing spatial coverage and reliability.
- SST values are corrected with sensor-specific offsets (0.17 degC for NOAA AVHRR) and quality levels are remapped using Sensor Specific Error Statistics.
- The product covers a specific, large geographic region (Southern Ocean, 27S to 78S) with a consistent 0.02-degree grid resolution.
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.
- Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the satellite coverage and compositing method over the specified region.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Ocean Data Network (via IMOS)
- Collection Method
- Derived from sea surface temperature retrievals from VIIRS and AVHRR sensors on polar-orbiting satellites, composited into monthly averages.
- Time Range
- Each file represents a one-month period.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-05-05 20:07:57.567992; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Southern Ocean region from 3E to 158W, 27S to 78S.