Source/sensor:NOAA Advanced Very-High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR).

Coverage: Aug 29, 2001 - current

Abstract: High quality Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) maps derived from the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)-Polar Orbiting Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) have been available since 1981. The multichannel sea surface temperature algorithm (MCSST) has been used to routinely calculate SSTs using a split window approach. Currently this algorithm is applied by the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) to calculate SSTs at a near real-time rate.

This product has interpolated weekly, 18 km uniform Sea Surface Temperature grids computed at JPL/PODAAC from the along-track MCSST data provided by the Naval Oceanographic Office(NAVOCEANO) at near real-time (a lag of only a few hours). Improved cloud detection algorithms applied by NAVOCEANO yield an increased number of retrievals compared to previous MCSST data sets.

Users should note that data from NOAA-14 ended on day 329 of 2001. After that date, only data from the NOAA-16 satellite are available.

The Level 3 gridded data exist as weekly maps at an 18km resolution. These data are available at a weekly lag in a binary format which can be converted to SSTs using a simple slope, y-intercept conversion (software available).

There are 5 bands of 2048x1024 byte data available:

1) SST weekly average,

2) number of points in the average,

3) SST weekly averaged anomaly,

4) SST interpolated weekly average

5) SST interpolated anomaly.

Read software is available in IDL, C and Fortran code. The data are currently available from August 29 of 2001 to the present and may be used for near real-time applications of SSTs. The data are available electronically through the JPL/PODAAC ftp site:

This data set is currently only available via anonymous FTP to: ftp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/sea_surface_temperature/avhrr/navoceano_mcsst/

Further information on the algorithm used may be obtained directly from NAVOCEANO at:

http://www.navo.navy.mil/
and/or https://www.navo.navy.mil/cgi-bin/search.pl/0/metoc/*/110/*/63