Australian Sea Surface Temperature Nighttime Monthly Satellite Grid

IMOS provides a Level 3 Super-collated (L3S) single-sensor sea surface temperature product derived from NOAA AVHRR satellite night-time observations. The data is a 0.02-degree resolution monthly average grid covering 70°E to 170°W, 20°N to 70°S. Production of this single-sensor product ceased in June 2025, with data from the Australian Ocean Data Network last updated in May 2026.

Use Cases

• Calibrating ocean models based on satellite-derived skin SST data
• Analyzing regional temperature anomalies based on monthly averaged night-time observations
• Validating multi-sensor SST products against this single-sensor historical baseline

Strengths

• Grid resolution is 0.02 degrees, providing detailed spatial coverage
• Product validation indicates typical 2014 biases of less than 0.05°C and standard deviations of 0.6°C
• Data is part of the GHRSST suite, indicating adherence to international standards

Limitations

• Production ceased in June 2025, limiting temporal coverage for recent analysis
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Derived from AVHRR instruments on NOAA polar-orbiting satellites, averaged and weighted by overlap area.

Time Range

One month periods, historical coverage until June 2025.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-05 18:31:48.012958; freshness should be verified

Geography

Region 70°E to 170°W, 20°N to 70°S (Australia and surrounding oceans).