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Description

The G18-ABI-L3C-ACSPO-v2.90 dataset produced by the NOAA ACSPO system is used to derive Subskin and Depth Sea Surface Temperature (SST) from the ABI sensor onboard the G18 satellite. NOAA’s G18 (aka GOES-T before launch) was launched on March 1, 2022, replacing G17 as GOES West in Jan'2023. It is the third satellite in the US GOES–R Series, the Western Hemisphere’s most sophisticated weather-observing and environmental-monitoring system. The ABI is the primary instrument on the GOES-R Series for imaging Earth’s weather, oceans, and environment. <br><br>
The G18-ABI-L3C-ACSPO-v2.90 dataset is a gridded version of the G18-ABI-L2P-ACSPO-v2.90 dataset (https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/G18-ABI-L2P-ACSPO-v2.90). The L3C (Level 3 Collated) outputs 24 hourly granules per day, with a daily volume of 0.7 GB/day. Valid SSTs are found over oceans, sea, lakes or rivers, with fill values reported elsewhere. All valid SSTs in L3C are recommended for users, although data over internal waters may not have enough in situ data to be adequately validated. Per GDS2 specifications, two additional Sensor-Specific Error Statistics layers (bias and standard deviation) are reported in each pixel with valid SST. <br><br>
The ACSPO G18/ABI L3C product is validated against iQuam in situ data (Xu and Ignatov, 2014) and continuously monitored in the NOAA SQUAM system (Dash et al, 2010). The NRT files are replaced with Delayed Mode (DM) files, with a latency of ~2-months. File names remain unchanged, and DM vs NRT can be identified by different time stamps and global attributes inside the files (MERRA instead of GFS for atmospheric profiles, and same day CMC L4 analyses in DM instead of one-day delayed in NRT processing).

Product Summary

Platforms
GOES-18
Instruments
ABI
Spatial Extent

N: 60 S: -60 E: -77 W: 163

Spatial Resolution
0.02 Decimal Degrees x 0.02 Decimal Degrees
Geographic Region
EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2022-06-07 to Present
Data Partner
Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA (NASA/JPL/PODAAC) ,
Center for Satellite Applications and Research, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/STAR)
Concept ID
C2731041317-POCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
30728
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Sea Surface Temperature ,
SEA SURFACE SUBSKIN TEMPERATURE

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

NASA/JPL. (2023). GHRSST L3C NOAA/ACSPO GOES-18/ABI West America Region Sea Surface Temperature v2.90 dataset [Data set]. NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/GHG18-3C290 Date Accessed: 2025-12-14

Documents

Variables

Variables are a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. For example, temperature and pressure are variables of the atmosphere. Parameters and variables can be used interchangeably. Variable level attributes provide individual information for each variable.

The Name in this table is the variable name. Fill value indicates missing or undefined data points in a variable. Valid range is the range of values the variable can store. Scale factor is used to increase or decrease the size of an object and can be used to correct for distortion. For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
crs coordinate reference system N/A int N/A N/A 1
dt_analysis Deviation from reference SST, i.e., dt_analysis = SST - reference SST kelvin short -32768 -32767 to 32767 0.01
l2p_flags L2P common flags in bits 1-3 and data provider flags (from ACSPO mask) in bits 8-16. For backwards compatibility with legacy reader software, the data provider flags (last 9 bits) contain redundant land and ice information that is also available in bits 2 and 3, respectively. Description of individual bits: bit01 (0=IR: 1=microwave); bit02 (0=not_land; 1=land (from land-sea mask)); bit03 (0=not_ice; 1=ice (from first-guess L4 SST)); bits04-08 (reserved,set to 0); bit08 (0=anti-solar; 1=solar); bit09 (0=valid_radiance; 1=invalid_radiance); bit10 (0=nighttime; 1=daytime); bit11 (0=not_land; 1=land (identical to bit02)); bit12 (0=good quality data; 1=twilight_degradation (degraded quality data due to &quot;twilight&quot; region)); bit13 (0=not_sunglint; 1=sunglint); bit14 (0=not_ice; 1=ice (identical to bit03)); bit15 (0=sst; 1=SST_not_valid_or_degraded (not_valid or degraded SST w/QL&lt;5)); bit16 (0=water (ocean, lake, river); 1=not_water (land, ice, invalid)) N/A short N/A -32768 to 32767 1
lat Latitudes for locating data degrees_north float N/A -90 to 90 1
lon Longitude for locating data degrees_east float N/A -180 to 180 1
or_number_of_pixels Original number of pixels from the L2Ps contributing to the SST value, not weighted 1 short 0 1 to 32767 1
quality_level SST quality levels: 5 corresponds to “clear-sky” pixels and is recommended for operational applications and validation. N/A byte -128 0 to 5 1
satellite_zenith_angle satellite zenith angle degrees short -32768 0 to 7000 0.01
sea_surface_temperature SST obtained by regression with buoy measurements, sensitive to skin SST. Further information at (Petrenko et al., JGR, 2014; doi:10.1002/2013JD020637) kelvin short -32768 -32767 to 32767 0.01
sses_bias Bias is derived against Piecewise Regression SST produced by local regressions with buoys. Subtracting sses_bias from sea_surface_temperature produces more accurate estimate of SST at the depth of buoys. Further information at (Petrenko et al., JTECH, 2016; doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-15-0166.1) kelvin byte -128 -127 to 127 0.016
sses_standard_deviation Standard deviation of sea_surface_temperature from SST measured by drifting buoys. Further information at (Petrenko et al., JTECH, 2016; doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-15-0166.1) kelvin byte -128 -127 to 127 0.01
sst_dtime time plus sst_dtime gives seconds since 1981-01-01 00:00:00 UTC seconds int -2147483648 -2147483647 to 2147483647 0.25
sst_front_position Binary indicator of SST front position in the valid SST clear-sky domain: 1 - SST front present, 0 - no front present N/A byte -128 0 to 1 1
sst_gradient_magnitude Gradient magnitude calculated from SST field in all grids with valid SST kelvin/km short -32768 -32767 to 32767 0.001
time Seconds since 1981-01-01 00:00:00 seconds since 1981-01-01 00:00:00 int N/A N/A 1
wind_speed Typically represents surface winds (10 meters above the sea surface) m s-1 byte -128 -127 to 127 0.15
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