SNDR13IML3SSDFCNSAT: Fused Satellite Surface Air Temperature for CONUS

NASA's Spatial Statistical Data Fusion (SSDF) Level 3 product provides daily estimates of near-surface atmospheric temperature over the continental United States. The dataset fuses observations from the AIRS instrument on Aqua and the CrIMSS suite on Suomi-NPP using a statistical algorithm that weights inputs by their estimated variance. Outputs are on a consistent ¼-degree latitude/longitude grid, creating a synthesized temperature field.

Use Cases

• Analyzing daily temperature patterns and anomalies across the continental United States based on fused satellite observations.
• Validating climate or weather models using a spatially continuous, bias-corrected temperature product.
• Studying data fusion algorithm performance by examining the variance-weighted integration of AIRS and CrIMSS data.
• Monitoring regional temperature trends over time from a consistent, multi-sensor satellite record.

Strengths

• Integrates data from two major satellite instrument suites (AIRS and CrIMSS) for potentially improved accuracy.
• Provides daily data on a standardized ¼-degree grid, offering consistent spatial and temporal resolution.
• Uses a formal statistical fusion process that accounts for input variance, likely reducing uncertainty.

Limitations

• Spatial coverage is limited to the continental United States (CONUS), not global.
• Metadata completeness is low: column names, row counts, and exact data size are unspecified across all sources.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2026-04-09 on datagov vs. 2020-12-31 on nasa_earthdata) create uncertainty about data freshness.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Spatial statistical fusion of Level-2 satellite data from the AIRS (Aqua) and CrIMSS (Suomi-NPP) instruments.

Freshness

2026-04-09 20:28:42.201582 (from datagov, but conflicts with nasa_earthdata date)

Geography

Continental United States (CONUS)