NOAA-20 VIIRS: Global Nighttime Sea Surface Temperature Data

The Visible and Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument on the NOAA-20 satellite provides Level-3 global mapped nighttime sea surface temperature (NSST) data at 11µm. VIIRS is the successor to MODIS and has 22 spectral bands, including 16 moderate-resolution bands (750m at nadir) and 5 image-resolution bands (375m). This dataset, version R2024.0, is produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global ocean warming trends based on nighttime sea surface temperature measurements.
• Validating and calibrating ocean circulation models using the 11µm thermal infrared data.
• Studiating diurnal temperature variation by comparing this nighttime product with daytime observations.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of upwelling and thermal fronts in coastal regions from the global mapped data.

Strengths

• Data originates from the VIIRS instrument, a successor to the widely used MODIS, with 22 spectral bands.
• Provides global coverage of sea surface temperature, a key climate variable.
• Includes high-resolution bands (375m at nadir) for detailed thermal imagery.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect temporal or calibration bias inherent to the satellite platform and processing version.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing data from the VIIRS instrument on the NOAA-20 (JPSS) spacecraft, processed to Level-3 global mapped product.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:17:14.867438; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global