MODIS Terra: Annual Sea Surface Temperature at 9km Daytime Resolution

NASA's Terra satellite, launched December 18, 1999, provides global skin sea surface temperature (SST) data from its Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The dataset includes annual, monthly, weekly, and daily averages at 9.26 km and 4.63 km spatial resolution, derived from 36 spectral bands. The R2019.0 version supersedes previous releases and is processed by the NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group.

Use Cases

• Modeling long-term ocean warming trends based on annual and monthly averaged skin SST.
• Studying diurnal temperature variation by comparing daytime and nighttime SST products.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of sea surface temperature at a global 9km scale.
• Validating other SST datasets using the lower-uncertainty SST4 product available for night observations.

Strengths

• Data is sourced from NASA's Terra satellite, a long-running mission launched in 1999.
• Provides multiple temporal aggregations: daily, weekly (8-day), monthly, and annual averages.
• Offers two spatial resolutions: 4.63 km and 9.26 km.
• Includes a specialized SST4 product derived from unique mid-infrared channels for lower uncertainty at night.

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 night observations due to sun glint interference.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite, with pixels binned into an integerized sinusoidal area grid and mapped to an equidistant cylindrical projection.

Time Range

Coverage from the Terra satellite launch (1999) onward; specific temporal range for this version is not stated.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:53:55.921202; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global ocean coverage.