MODIS Aqua: Daily Sea Surface Temperature at 9km Resolution

NASA MODIS Aqua satellite provides daily, weekly, monthly, and annual global skin sea surface temperature (SST) data at 4.63 and 9.26 km resolution. Aqua launched on May 4, 2002, into a sun-synchronous orbit, capturing data in 36 spectral bands. The R2019.0 dataset supersedes previous versions and includes two SST products: a skin SST for day/night and a lower uncertainty SST4 product available only at night.

Use Cases

• Monitor global ocean warming trends based on daily and monthly averaged skin SST products.
• Validate satellite-derived SST algorithms using the lower uncertainty SST4 product available at night.
• Study regional sea surface temperature anomalies based on spatially gridded data at 9km resolution.
• Analyze long-term climate patterns based on annual SST composites spanning from 2002 onward.

Strengths

• Data spans from the Aqua satellite launch in May 2002, providing a multi-decade time series.
• Offers two distinct SST products: a general skin SST and a specialized SST4 with lower uncertainty.
• Available at multiple temporal aggregations: daily, 8-day, monthly, and annual.
• Provides data at two spatial resolutions: 4.63 km and 9.26 km.

Limitations

• The SST4 product with lower uncertainty is restricted to night-time observations only.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) and Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS).

Collection Method

Spatially gridded (L3) products generated from L2 pixels binned into an integerized sinusoidal area grid and mapped to an equidistant cylindrical projection.

Time Range

From May 2002 onward.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:26:33.207761; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global.