CoastWatch
Dataset Summary
West Coast Regional Node

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Global Sea Surface Temperature from the Advanced Very-High Resolution Radiometer

Program: NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Spacecraft
Spacecraft: NOAA-17 and NOAA-18
Sensor: Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)
Data Stream: Recorder Global Area Coverage (GAC)
Primary Geophysical Parameter: Sea surface temperature (SST)
Nominal Accuracy: 0.5 degrees Celsius (C)
Spatial grid: 0.1 degrees longitude by 0.1 degrees latitude, geographic
Spatial coverage: Global
Temporal Coverage: Last 60 days + (depending on storage space)
FGDC Metadata     Data Quality Act Documentation
Short Description:
The global area coverage (GAC) data stream from NOAA | NESDIS | OSDPD provides a high-quality sea surface temperature product with very little cloud contamination. This data is used for a variety of fisheries management projects, including the El Niño Watch Report, which stress data quality over high spatial resolution.
Technical Summary:
CoastWatch offers global sea surface temperature (SST) data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument aboard NOAA's Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES). Two satellites are currently in use, NOAA-17 and NOAA-18. The AVHRR sensor is a five channel sensor comprised of two visible radiance channels and three infrared radiance channels. During daytime satellite passes, all five radiance channels are used. During nighttime passes, only the infrared radiance channels are used.

The POES satellite stores a sub-sample of the AVHRR radiance measurements onboard, generating a global data set. The satellite downloads this dataset once it is within range of a receiving station. The sub-sampling reduces the resolution of the original data from 1.47km for the HRPT SST product to 11km for the global data product.

AVHRR radiance measurements are processed to SST by NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution (OSDPD) using the non-linear sea surface temperature (NLSST) algorithm detailed in Walton et al., 1998. SST values are accurate to within 0.5 degrees Celsius. Ongoing calibration and validation efforts by NOAA satellites and information provide for continuity of quality assessment and algorithm integrity (e.g., Li et al., 2001a and Li et al., 2001b). In addition, the CoastWatch West Coast Regional Node (WCRN) runs monthly validation tests for all SST data streams using data from the NOAA National Weather Service and National Data Buoy Center (NDBC).

The data are cloud screened using the CLAVR-x method developed and maintained by NOAA Satellites and Information (e.g., Stowe et al., 1999). The data are mapped to an equal angle grid (0.1 degrees latitude by 0.1 degrees longitude) using a simple arithmetic mean to produce individual and composite images of various durations (e.g., 1, 3, 8, 14-day).
Disclaimer:
Despite our best efforts, incorrect data may often appear within near real time data sets. NOAA CoastWatch accepts no liability for use of these data products. It is recommended that these products NOT be used for navigation.
Acknowledgement:
If this data is used in presentation or publication, please acknowledge the NOAA CoastWatch Program and the NOAA NESDIS Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution.
References and suggested citations:
Li, X., W. Pichel, E. Maturi, P. Clemente-Colón, and J. Sapper, 2001a. Deriving the operational nonlinear multi-channel sea surface temperature algorithm coefficients for NOAA-15 AVHRR/3, Int. J. of Remote Sens., Volume 22, No. 4, 699 - 704.

Li, X, W. Pichel, P. Clemente-Colón, V. Krasnopolsky, and J. Sapper, 2001b. Validation of coastal sea and lake surface temperature measurements derived from NOAA/AVHRR Data, Int. J. of Remote Sens., Vol. 22, No. 7, 1285-1303.

Stowe, L. L., P. A. Davis, and E. P. McClain, 1999. Scientific basis and initial evaluation of the CLAVR-1 global clear/cloud classification algorithm for the advanced very high resolution radiometer. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 16, 656-681.

Walton C. C., W. G. Pichel, J. F. Sapper, D. A. May, 1998. The development and operational application of nonlinear algorithms for the measurement of sea surface temperatures with the NOAA polar-orbiting environmental satellites, J. Geophys. Res., 103: (C12) 27999-28012.

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