MODIS Aqua: Nighttime Sea Surface Temperature at 4km Resolution

Nighttime sea surface temperature data derived from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite, collected since its launch on May 4, 2002. The dataset provides spatially gridded (Level 3) skin SST products at 4.63 km resolution, averaged over 8-day periods, generated by the NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group and algorithm developers at RSMAS. It includes a lower uncertainty SST4 product calculated from mid-infrared channels, which is unique to MODIS and only available for nighttime observations.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean heat content and climate patterns based on global, gridded skin SST measurements.
• Validating other satellite or in-situ sea surface temperature products based on the MODIS mid-infrared SST4 algorithm.
• Studying diurnal temperature variations by comparing the nighttime SST4 product with daytime SST observations.
• Analyzing long-term ocean temperature trends using data collected since 2002 from the Aqua satellite.

Strengths

• Data originates from NASA's MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite, a well-established Earth observation platform.
• Includes a specialized SST4 product derived from mid-infrared channels, which likely has lower uncertainty for nighttime measurements.
• Provides global coverage at a 4.63 km spatial resolution, suitable for regional-scale analysis.
• The dataset supersedes a previous version (v2014.1), indicating ongoing algorithm refinement.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The SST4 product is only available for nighttime observations due to sun glint interference.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the MODIS instrument on the Aqua spacecraft.

Time Range

Data collection began after the Aqua satellite launch on May 4, 2002.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:27:36.503974; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global