MODIS Terra: Global Sea Surface Temperature Thermal IR 8-Day Grids

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

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean heat flux and climate patterns based on global 8-day SST averages.
• Validating satellite SST algorithms based on the dual-product (skin SST and SST4) methodology.
• Studying diurnal SST variability based on separate daytime and nighttime observations.
• Analyzing long-term SST trends based on the multi-year time series from Terra.
• Mapping regional ocean temperature anomalies based on the 4.63 km gridded data.

Strengths

• Provides two distinct SST products (skin SST and SST4) for algorithm comparison.
• Offers data at multiple temporal resolutions (daily, 8-day, monthly, annual).
• Available at two spatial resolutions (4.63 km and 9.26 km) for different analysis scales.
• Data is processed by NASA's Ocean Biology Processing Group, an authoritative source.

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, which has lower uncertainty, is only available for nighttime observations.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

SST derived from MODIS spectral bands onboard the Terra satellite, binned and mapped into grid projections.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:26:12.714964; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global