MODIS Aqua: Daily Global Sea Surface Temperature at 4km Resolution

Global spatially gridded skin sea surface temperature (SST) data from the NASA MODIS Aqua satellite. The dataset includes daily, weekly, monthly, and annual averages at 4.63 km and 9.26 km spatial resolution, derived from thermal infrared and mid-infrared channels. It is produced by the NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group and algorithm teams at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean heat content and climate patterns based on daily and weekly global SST averages
• Studying diurnal temperature variation by comparing day and night skin SST (NSST) products
• Analyzing SST accuracy and uncertainty using the nighttime SST4 product derived from unique MODIS channels
• Mapping global ocean temperature trends based on monthly and annual composite products

Strengths

• Provides data at two spatial resolutions: 4.63 km and 9.26 km
• Includes multiple temporal aggregations: daily, 8-day, monthly, and annual
• Offers two SST products: standard skin SST and a lower-uncertainty nighttime SST4
• Data is part of the R2019.0 processing version, superseding the previous v2014.1

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 only available for nighttime observations due to sun glint constraints

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the MODIS instrument onboard the Aqua spacecraft, with data binned into an integerized sinusoidal area grid and mapped to an equidistant cylindrical projection.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:56:59.685117; freshness should be verified

Geography

Global ocean coverage.