Real-time Sea Surface Temperature (1 mb)Real-time NOAA Sea Surface Temperature and Anomaly
Description:
Sea surface temperature, much like the atmosphere’s temperature, is constantly changing. Water warms up and cools down at a slower rate than air, so diurnal variations (heating during the day and cooling during the night) seen in the atmosphere are hard to observe in the ocean. The seasons, however, can be seen as the warmest water near the equator expands toward the United States during the summer months and withdraws again during the winter months. The interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere is one that scientists are constantly researching, and the temperature of the sea surface is a key factor in those interactions. Sea surface temperature anomaly is the difference between the current temperature and the long-term temperature average. Negative temperature differences indicate that the ocean is cooler than average, while positive temperature difference indicate that the ocean is warmer than average. Tracking sea surface anomalies helps scientists quickly identify areas of warming and cooling, which can effect coral reef ecosystems, hurricane development, and the development of El Nino and La Nina.
The real-time sea surface temperature dataset is provided by the NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research and the near-real-time sea surface temperature anomaly dataset is produced by the NOAA Coral Reef Watch. The SST images are data merged from several different satellites. Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers, AVHRR, are collecting data on board NOAA-18 and Metop-A, polar orbiting satellites operated by NOAA and EUMETSAT respectively. The GOES Imagers on board GOES-East and GOES-West, NOAA's geostationary satellites, are also collecting data for this product. By collecting data from multiple satellites, high resolution, accurate, cloud-free composites can be generated on a daily basis. The resolution of the data is 11.12 km/pixel. At this resolution, features such as the Gulf Stream along the East Coast of the United States are distinguishable. The spatial resolution for the SST anomaly is 0.5-degree (50 km), and the images are updated twice-weekly.
Notable Features: SST
- Growth and reduction of the warm water during the changing seasons
- Sea surface temperature denoted by colorbar, 35°C = 95°F, 0°C = 32°F
Notable Features: SST Anomaly
- Warming and cooling off the western coast of South America is indicative of El Nino and La Nina respectively
- SST anomaly is denoted by colorbar, 5°C change = 9°F change
Data Category
Major: Ocean
Keywords:
Ocean, sea surface temperature, anomaly, real-time, NOAA
| Data Set Name | nesdis/sst |
| Data Set Source | NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research |
| Data Set Developer | NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research |
| Visualization Developer | NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research |
| Audio | No |
| Contact | Dan Pisut, NOAA/NESDIS |
| Download | FTP |
| Data Set Name | nesdis/sst_anom |
| Data Set Source | NOAA Coral Reef Watch |
| Data Set Developer | NOAA Coral Reef Watch |
| Visualization Developer | NOAA Coral Reef Watch |
| Audio | No |
| Contact | Gang Liu, NOAA/NESDIS |
| Download | FTP |