Sea
Surface Temperature (L4, G1SST)
Temporal coverage: 21 June 2010 - 08 December 2019
29 January 2020
Notice: The GHRSST Sea Surface Temperature (L4, G1SST)
has been producing poor quality SST results since 9 December 2019. The imagery
has been removed from 9 December 2019 to present. We advise users to consider
using the GHRSST Sea Surface Temperature (L4, MUR) layer,
which provides comparable data at the same spatial sampling and coverage as
G1SST.
Read more about
the data outage (29 January 2020).
The GHRSST Sea Surface
Temperature Level 4, G1SST sea surface temperature analysis product is created
using a multi-scale two-dimensional variational (MS-2DVAR) blending algorithm
on a global 0.009 degree grid. The Global 1 km SST (G1SST) analysis uses
satellite data from sensors that include the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
(AVHRR), the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR), the Spinning
Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI), the Advanced Microwave Scanning
Radiometer-EOS (AMSRE), the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave
Imager (TMI), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Imager, the
Multi-Functional Transport Satellite 1R (MTSAT-1R) radiometer, and in situ data
from drifting and moored buoys.
The Group for High Resolution Sea
Surface Temperature (GHRSST) layers are the “skin sea surface
temperature” at approximately 10-20 µm depth in Celsius (°C). Changes in
sea surface temperature have an impact on weather, oceanic and atmospheric
current patterns, affects ocean ecology and even life on land. Sea surface
temperatures are normally warmer near the equator and cooler near the poles,
but ocean currents move warm and cold water around the Earth’s oceans.
When these currents flow near the surface, they are typically visible in the
sea surface imagery if not obscured by clouds. El Niño is an example of how
changes in sea surface temperature affect weather around the world. El Niño
occurs every 3 – 7 years and causes a wide swath of the eastern tropical
Pacific Ocean around the equator to warm 2 – 3 °C (or even more during
intense El Nino events). This anomalous warming in turn changes weather
patterns around the world. For example, increased precipitation typically
occurs in the southern United States, and severe drought is found in Australia,
Indonesia, and southern Asia during these periods. Other examples of SST
effects on weather include the ocean temperature influence on the development
of tropical cyclones like hurricanes and typhoons. Tropical cyclones are dependent
on warm SST from which they draw heat and energy to form and intensify.
The imagery resolution is 1 km,
and the temporal resolution is daily.
References: PO.DAAC - GHRSST Level 4 G1SST Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature
Analysis