Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Data Sources

NOAA has been producing sea surface temperatures (SSTs) from satellite data since 1972. Beginning in 1982, multichannel infrared (IR) data became available to provide more accurate SSTs making it possible to correct for the intervening atmosphere.

CoastWatch provides near real-time SST products with data from NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) and Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES), as well as NASA's Earth Observing Satellites (EOS), Aqua and Terra. In addition, CoastWatch has an experimental SST product using microwave data from NASA's TRMM satellite. With the exception of the microwave SST, CoastWatch SST products are produced at high spatial resolution for the coastal waters of the United States. Each product has unique characteristics dependent on the sensor and the algorithm applied.

Recent Products Search Products	Products:  Sea surface temperature (6km resolution, GIF, GeoTIFF, or binary) Sensor:  Imager Spacecraft:NOAA Geostationary Spacecraft (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites - GOES) Distribution:  CoastWatch Home Page Registration Required?  No More Information
NOAA CoastWatch Central Operations provides sea surface temperature (SST) products derived from NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES). Sea surface temperature products from GOES for the coastal United States are available in near real-time and updated 8 times per day (every 3 hours).
Recent Products Search Products	Products: Sea surface temperature, Cloud masks, Channel data (albedo) (1km or 4km resolution, HDF) Sensor:  Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Spacecraft:NOAA Polar Spacecraft (Polar Operational Environmental Satellites - POES) Distribution:  CoastWatch Home Page Registration Required?  No More Information
NOAA CoastWatch sea surface temperature (SST) Images are produced by NESDIS Information Processing Division using data from NOAA Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES). CoastWatch SST Images are produced from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data four times daily for the coastal waters of the United States. Sea surface temperature products may be browsed online or obtained from the Regional Nodes; retrospective data may be obtained from the Satellite Active Archive.
Recent Products Search Products	Products: Sea surface temperature with cloud mask / sun glint (MOD28L2 => HDF, GeoTIFF, PNG) Sensor:  Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Spacecraft:NASA AQUA/TERRA (EOS AM-1/PM-1) Distribution:  CoastWatch Home Page Registration Required?  No More Information
NOAA CoastWatch provides near real-time MODIS sea surface temperature products from the NASA Terra and Aqua spacecrafts. Currently, only daytime imagery is supported within 24 hours of observation. More information on how CoastWatch implements MODIS data and NASA MODIS products can be found on the MODIS product page.
Recent Products Search Products	Products: EXPERIMENTAL Sea surface temperature with rain mask / buffered land mask (GeoTIFF, PNG) Sensor:  Tropica Rainfall Measuring Mission's Microwave Imager (TMI) Spacecraft: NASA TRMM Distribution:  CoastWatch Home Page Registration Required?  No More Information
NOAA CoastWatch is planning to provide near real-time TMI sea surface temperature products from the NASA TRMM spacecraft. Currently, ascending and descending passes are available as a global dataset within 24 hours of observation. More information on how CoastWatch implements TMI data products can be found on the TMI product page.