The Ocean Biology DAAC produces near real-time (NRT) products using the best-available combination of ancillary data from meteorological and ozone data. As such, the inputs and the calibration used are less than optimal. Near real-time products provide a snapshot of the data during a short time period within a single orbit.
SST provides global sea surface temperature derived primarily from thermal infrared observations during daytime. Users apply SST to detect fronts and eddies, monitor marine heatwaves, drive ecosystem and habitat models (when paired with chlor_a, Kd_490, PAR), and provide boundary conditions for biogeochemical and climate analyses. Note that IR-based SST is sensitive to clouds, aerosols, and diurnal warming; for minimum diurnal effects, pair with NSST (nighttime SST) and refer to per-file flags before analysis.
Geophysical variables in this suite include:
- sst — Sea Surface Temperature (°C)
- qual_sst — Quality levels for Sea Surface Temperature (integer quality flag)