MODIS Terra: Monthly Sea Surface Temperature Thermal IR Daytime 4km

NASA MODIS Terra satellite provides global skin sea surface temperature (SST) data at 4.63 and 9.26 km spatial resolution. Average daily, weekly, monthly, and annual SST products are derived from 36 spectral bands, including a daytime skin SST and a nighttime SST4 product. The data is processed by the NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group and archived by JPL's PO.DAAC.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global ocean warming trends based on monthly SST averages
• Validating SST algorithms based on MODIS thermal infrared and mid-infrared channels
• Studying diurnal SST variations based on separate daytime and nighttime products
• Mapping regional SST patterns for climate models based on 4km gridded data

Strengths

• Data originates from NASA's MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite, launched in 1999
• Offers two SST products: skin SST for day/night and SST4 with lower uncertainty for night
• Available at multiple temporal resolutions (daily, weekly, monthly, annual) and two spatial resolutions (4.63km, 9.26km)
• Processed using an integerized sinusoidal area grid and mapped to an equidistant cylindrical projection

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 nighttime observations due to sun glint

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

SST derived from MODIS satellite sensor measurements using modified nonlinear SST algorithms.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:25:48.291229; freshness should be verified

Geography

Global