Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content
  • Feedback

    • AVHRR Pathfinder version 5.0, interim version 5.0, and version 5.1 global 4km sea surface temperature (SST) data for 1981-2009

    Metadata Updated: May 1, 2025

    The 4 km Pathfinder effort at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) and the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) is an extension of, and improvement on, the sea surface temperature (SST) fields from the NOAA/NASA AVHRR Oceans 9km Pathfinder dataset. In this 4 km Pathfinder project, some important shortcomings in the original 9 km data have been corrected, and the entire time series has been reprocessed at the 4 km Global Area Coverage (GAC) level, the highest resolution possible globally. Twice-daily SST and related parameters back to 1981 have been produced, as well as temporal averages for 5-day, 7-day, 8-day, monthly, and yearly periods. In addition, cloud-screened products were developed from these Pathfinder Version 5 data at the NODC, including 5-day cloud-screened full-resolution data, 5-day cloud-screened one-degree binned data, and 5-day cloud-screened gap-filled full-resolution data products. Associated climatologies and region-specific (Gulf of Mexico) GeoTIFF image products were also produced from these data.

    This dataset includes the temporally averaged SST data and related parameters available for 1981-2009.

    Data and data products for all years and time periods are available as separate NCEI accessions.

    These data were collected through the operational periods of the NOAA-7 through NOAA-18 Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES).

    Access & Use Information

    License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Date 2025-04-16T13:17:17Z
    Metadata Created Date August 6, 2021
    Metadata Updated Date May 1, 2025
    Reference Date(s) October 19, 2004 (publication), January 11, 2022 (revision)
    Frequency Of Update asNeeded

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/accessions

    Other Data Resources

    Graphic Preview

    Preview graphic

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Series
    Metadata Date 2025-04-16T13:17:17Z
    Metadata Created Date August 6, 2021
    Metadata Updated Date May 1, 2025
    Reference Date(s) October 19, 2004 (publication), January 11, 2022 (revision)
    Responsible Party (Point of Contact)
    Contact Email
    Guid gov.noaa.nodc:AVHRR_Pathfinder-NODC-v5.0_v5.1
    Access Constraints Cite as: Casey, Kenneth S.; Kearns, Edward J.; Halliwell, Vicki; Evans, Robert (2004). AVHRR Pathfinder version 5.0, interim version 5.0, and version 5.1 global 4km sea surface temperature (SST) data for 1981-2009. [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/AVHRR_Pathfinder-NODC-v5.0_v5.1. Accessed [date]., Please also cite: Casey, K.S., T.B. Brandon, P. Cornillon, and R. Evans (2010). "The Past, Present and Future of the AVHRR Pathfinder SST Program", in Oceanography from Space: Revisited, eds. V. Barale, J.F.R. Gower, and L. Alberotanza, Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8681-5_16, Use liability: NOAA and NCEI cannot provide any warranty as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of furnished data. Users assume responsibility to determine the usability of these data. The user is responsible for the results of any application of this data for other than its intended purpose., Please acknowledge the use of these data with the following statement: These data were provided by GHRSST and the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.
    Bbox East Long 180
    Bbox North Lat 90
    Bbox South Lat -90
    Bbox West Long -180
    Coupled Resource
    Frequency Of Update asNeeded
    Graphic Preview Description Preview graphic
    Graphic Preview File https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/gfx?id=gov.noaa.nodc:AVHRR_Pathfinder-NODC-v5.0_v5.1
    Graphic Preview Type PNG
    Harvest Object Id 7088fe45-fc5f-4971-ab9d-e1b382ffa2d3
    Harvest Source Id c084a438-6f6b-470d-93e0-16aeddb9f513
    Harvest Source Title NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/accessions
    Licence accessLevel: Public
    Lineage
    Metadata Language eng
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-180.0, -90.0], [180.0, -90.0], [180.0, 90.0], [-180.0, 90.0], [-180.0, -90.0]]]}
    Progress completed
    Spatial Data Service Type
    Spatial Reference System urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326
    Spatial Harvester True
    Temporal Extent Begin 1981-08-24
    Temporal Extent End 2009-12-31

    Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.