NOAA-20 VIIRS: Global Binned Daytime Sea Surface Temperature Data

VIIRS, the successor to MODIS, provides global sea surface temperature measurements from the NOAA-20 satellite. The instrument has 22 spectral bands, including 16 moderate-resolution and 5 high-resolution bands. This Level-3 binned data product is produced by NASA and NOAA as part of the Joint Polar Satellite System.

Use Cases

• Modeling global ocean heat flux based on 11µm infrared sea surface temperature measurements.
• Calibrating and validating climate models using satellite-derived temperature data.
• Monitoring marine heat waves and El Niño events based on global binned SST data.
• Analyzing diurnal temperature variation patterns using daytime-specific observations.

Strengths

• Data originates from the VIIRS instrument, the designated successor to the widely-used MODIS.
• The sensor provides data from 22 spectral bands ranging from 412 nm to 12 µm.
• Product is part of the multi-agency JPSS program, consolidating NASA and NOAA polar satellite assets.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML projects.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality and preprocessing requirements require manual inspection.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Visible and Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-20 spacecraft.

Time Range

Likely covers the operational period of the NOAA-20 satellite, but specific range is not provided.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:15:11.270044; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage, as indicated by the 'Global Binned' title.