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Description

NASA produces skin sea surface temperature (SST) products from the Infrared (IR) channels of the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Aqua satellite. Aqua was launched by NASA on May 4, 2002, into a sun synchronous, polar orbit with a daylight ascending node at 1:30 pm, formation flying in the A-train with other Earth Observation Satellites (EOS), to study the global dynamics of the Earth atmosphere, land and oceans. MODIS captures data in 36 spectral bands at a variety of spatial resolutions. Two SST products can be present in these files. The first is a skin SST produced for both day and night (NSST) observations, derived from the long wave IR 11 and 12 micron wavelength channels, using a modified nonlinear SST algorithm intended to provide continuity of SST derived from heritage and current NASA sensors. At night, a second SST product is generated using the mid-infrared 3.95 and 4.05 micron wavelength channels which are unique to MODIS; the SST derived from these measurements is identified as SST4. The SST4 product has lower uncertainty, but due to sun glint can only be used at night. MODIS L2P SST data have a 1 km spatial resolution at nadir and are stored in 288 five minute granules per day. Full global coverage is obtained every two days, with coverage poleward of 32.3 degree being complete each day. The production of MODIS L2P SST files is part of the Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) project and is a joint collaboration between the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG), and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS). Researchers at RSMAS are responsible for SST algorithm development, error statistics and quality flagging, while the OBPG, as the NASA ground data system, is responsible for the production of daily MODIS ocean products. JPL acquires MODIS ocean granules from the OBPG and reformats them to the GHRSST L2P netCDF specification with complete metadata and ancillary variables, and distributes the data as the official Physical Oceanography Data Archive (PO.DAAC) for SST. The R2019.0 supersedes the previous R2014.0 datasets which can be found at https://doi.org/10.5067/GHMDA-2PJ02

Product Summary

Platforms
Aqua
Instruments
MODIS
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
1000 Meters x 1000 Meters
Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2002-07-04
Data Partner
Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA (NASA/JPL/PODAAC)
Concept ID
C1940473819-POCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
2829526
Processing Level
2
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Sea Surface 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. (2020). GHRSST Level 2P Global Sea Surface Skin Temperature from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the NASA Aqua satellite (GDS2) [Data set]. NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/GHMDA-2PJ19 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
dt_analysis TBD kelvin byte -128 -127 to 127 0.1
l2p_flags These flags can be used to further filter data variables N/A short N/A 0 to 16 1
lat geographical coordinates, WGS84 projection degrees_north float -999 -90 to 90 1
lon geographical coordinates, WGS84 projection degrees_east float -999 -180 to 180 1
quality_level thermal IR SST proximity confidence value; signed byte array: WARNING Some applications are unable to properly handle signed byte values. If values are encountered > 127, please subtract 256 from this reported value N/A byte -128 0 to 5 1
quality_level_4um mid-IR SST proximity confidence value; non L2P core field; signed byte array: WARNING Some applications are unable to properly handle signed byte values. If values are encountered > 127, please subtract 256 from this reported value N/A byte -128 0 to 5 1
sea_surface_temperature sea surface temperature from thermal IR (11 um) channels kelvin short -32767 -1000 to 10000 0.005
sea_surface_temperature_4um sea surface temperature from mid-IR (4 um) channels; non L2P core field kelvin short -32767 -1000 to 10000 0.005
sses_bias thermal IR SST bias error; signed byte array: WARNING Some applications are unable to properly handle signed byte values. If values are encountered > 127, please subtract 256 from this reported value kelvin byte -128 -127 to 127 0.15748031
sses_bias_4um mid-IR SST bias error; non L2P core field; signed byte array: WARNING Some applications are unable to properly handle signed byte values. If values are encountered > 127, please subtract 256 from this reported value kelvin byte -128 -127 to 127 0.15748031
sses_standard_deviation thermal IR SST standard deviation error; signed byte array: WARNING Some applications are unable to properly handle signed byte values. If values are encountered > 127, please subtract 256 from this reported value kelvin byte -128 -127 to 127 0.07874016
sses_standard_deviation_4um mid-IR SST standard deviation error; non L2P core field; signed byte array: WARNING Some applications are unable to properly handle signed byte values. If values are encountered > 127, please subtract 256 from this reported value kelvin byte -128 -127 to 127 0.07874016
sst_dtime time plus sst_dtime gives seconds after 00:00:00 UTC January 1, 1981 seconds short -32768 -32767 to 32767 1
time time of first sensor observation seconds since 1981-01-01 00:00:00 int N/A N/A 1
wind_speed Wind at 10 meters above the sea surface m s-1 byte -128 -127 to 127 0.2
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