MODIS Aqua: Global Sea Surface Temperature Monthly Nighttime Data at 9km

NASA's Aqua satellite, launched May 4, 2002, provides global skin sea surface temperature measurements. The Level 3 product offers monthly averages at a 9.26 km spatial resolution, featuring a unique nighttime SST4 product derived from mid-infrared channels with lower uncertainty. Data is processed by the NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group and algorithm development is led by scientists at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Use Cases

• Modeling global ocean heat flux based on spatially gridded skin sea surface temperature.
• Analyzing long-term sea surface temperature trends based on monthly and annual composite data.
• Comparing satellite-derived SST products based on the dual algorithm approach for day/night and mid-infrared observations.
• Studying diurnal warming cycles by contrasting daytime and nighttime SST products.

Strengths

• Provides a unique nighttime SST4 product from mid-infrared channels, which the description states has lower uncertainty.
• Offers data at multiple temporal scales (daily, weekly, monthly, annual) and two spatial resolutions (4.63 km and 9.26 km).
• Data is generated by authoritative NASA teams, including the Ocean Biology Processing Group and RSMAS algorithm developers.

Limitations

• The SST4 mid-infrared product is only usable at night due to sun glint contamination during daytime.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML projects.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Spatially gridded (Level 3) products created by binning Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) L2 pixels into an integerized sinusoidal area grid.

Time Range

Coverage likely begins after the Aqua satellite launch on May 4, 2002; specific range is not provided.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:57:31.519145; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global ocean coverage.