MODIS Aqua Satellite Sea Surface Temperature Data at 9km Resolution

NASA MODIS Aqua satellite data provides global skin sea surface temperature (SST) measurements. The Level 3 products include daily, weekly, monthly, and annual averages at 4.63 km and 9.26 km spatial resolution, derived from thermal infrared and mid-infrared channels. The data is processed by the NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global ocean warming trends based on long-term annual SST averages
• Studying diurnal SST variability based on separate daytime and nighttime skin SST products
• Validating SST algorithms based on the SST4 product derived from unique MODIS mid-infrared channels
• Analyzing spatial SST patterns based on data gridded into an integerized sinusoidal area projection

Strengths

• Provides two distinct SST products: skin SST for day/night and SST4 with lower uncertainty for night-only use
• Offers multiple temporal aggregations: daily, weekly (8-day), monthly, and annual averages
• Available at two spatial resolutions: 4.63 km and 9.26 km
• Data is generated by authoritative NASA teams (OBPG and RSMAS) for algorithm development and quality

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• The SST4 product is limited to nighttime use due to sun glint interference

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Spatially gridded (L3) products created by binning L2 pixels from the MODIS sensor on the Aqua satellite.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:27:23.689570; freshness should be verified

Geography

Global