Suomi-NPP VIIRS: Global Nighttime Sea Surface Temperature (NSST) - Near Real-time Data

The Suomi-NPP VIIRS Level-3 Global Binned 11µm Nighttime Sea Surface Temperature (NSST) dataset is produced by the Ocean Biology DAAC (OB_DAAC) at NASA. It provides near real-time (NRT) global estimates of sea surface temperature derived from thermal infrared observations taken during local night. The dataset includes variables for sea surface temperature in degrees Celsius and an associated quality flag.

Use Cases

• Detecting ocean fronts based on nighttime sea surface temperature gradients.
• Supporting fisheries habitat models when paired with chlorophyll-a, diffuse attenuation, and PAR data as mentioned in the description.
• Providing stable inputs for climate analyses and air-sea flux calculations.
• Monitoring thermal conditions in near real-time for short-term oceanographic studies.

Strengths

• Focuses on nighttime observations to minimize diurnal warming and sun glint effects.
• Provides a near real-time snapshot of data within a single orbit.
• Includes a quality flag (qual_sst) to assist with data filtering.

Limitations

• Uncertainties increase under thin clouds, heavy aerosols, dust, or strong thermal gradients as noted in the description.
• Near real-time products use less-than-optimal ancillary data and calibration compared to final products.
• Column-level documentation and sample data are unavailable, requiring reliance on per-file flags.

Provenance

Source

NASA Ocean Biology DAAC (OB_DAAC)

Collection Method

Derived from thermal infrared observations by the Suomi-NPP VIIRS satellite sensor.

Time Range

Near real-time, single-orbit snapshots

Freshness

Near real-time (NRT)

Geography

Global