IMOS SST: Multi-Sensor 6-Day Night-Time Sea Surface Temperature for Australia Region

Multi-sensor sea surface temperature data composited from six consecutive night-time periods. The product is derived from VIIRS and AVHRR sensors on polar-orbiting satellites and provided as a 0.02-degree resolution map covering 70E to 170W, 20N to 70S. It is produced by the Australian Ocean Data Network and was last updated in July 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyzing regional sea surface temperature trends based on multi-sensor night-time composites.
• Validating oceanographic models using quality-controlled, area-weighted average SST data.
• Studying diurnal temperature cycles by comparing night-time data with daytime products.

Strengths

• Data is derived from multiple satellite sensors (VIIRS and AVHRR) for potentially improved coverage.
• Each grid cell contains a 6-night average weighted by the area of overlap of the highest quality SSTs.
• Quality levels are remapped using original sensor-specific error statistics before compositing.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specified Australia-centric region.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network (AODN) via the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS).

Collection Method

Derived from sea surface temperature retrievals from VIIRS and AVHRR sensors on polar-orbiting satellites, composited into a 6-day night-time average.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-13 20:25:07.332617; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Covers the region 70E to 170W, 20N to 70S, which includes the waters around Australia.