MODIS Aqua: Global Daily Sea Surface Temperature at 9km Resolution

Global spatially gridded skin sea surface temperature (SST) data from the NASA MODIS Aqua satellite. The dataset provides daily, 8-day, monthly, and annual averages at 4.63 km and 9.26 km resolution, derived from thermal infrared and mid-infrared channels. NASA's Ocean Biology Processing Group generates the data, with algorithm development from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean-atmosphere heat exchange based on daily skin SST measurements.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal SST trends based on gridded global data at multiple time aggregations.
• Calibrating or validating other SST products based on the MODIS-specific SST4 nighttime algorithm.
• Studying diurnal warming cycles based on the separate day and night SST products.

Strengths

• Data is sourced from the NASA MODIS Aqua satellite, launched on May 4, 2002, providing a long-term record.
• Offers two distinct SST products: a standard skin SST and a lower-uncertainty SST4 product for nighttime.
• Provides data at multiple temporal resolutions (daily, 8-day, monthly, annual) and two spatial resolutions (4.63 km and 9.26 km).
• Projected onto a standardized integerized sinusoidal area grid (ISEAG) for consistent spatial analysis.

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, while having lower uncertainty, is restricted to nighttime use due to sun glint.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite, with data processed to Level 3 (L3) binned and gridded products.

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 23:56:16.897372; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global ocean coverage.