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AVHRR Pathfinder version 5.2 level 3 collated (L3C) global 4km sea surface temperature for 1981-2012

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: August 27, 2026 at 11:56 PM | Dataset Last Updated: October 15, 2021 at 12:00 AM
The AVHRR Pathfinder Version 5.2 Sea Surface Temperature dataset (PFV52) is a collection of global, twice-daily 4km sea surface temperature data produced in a partnership by the NOAA National Oceanographic Data Center and the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. PFV52 was computed from data from the AVHRR instruments on board NOAA's polar orbiting satellite series using an entirely modernized system based on SeaDAS. This system incorporates several key changes from Versions 5.0 and 5.1 of Pathfinder, including the use of an entirely new land mask, a modified grid, and the inclusion of sea ice, wind speed, and aerosol ancillary data to support the use of the SST data. Importantly, PFV52 data are provided in netCDF-4 (classic model, with internal compression and chunking) and are nearly 100% compliant with the GHRSST Data Specification Version 2.0 for L3C products. These data deviate from that standard only in that sses_bias, sses_standard_deviation, and sst_dtime variables are empty. PFV52 data were collected through the operational periods of the NOAA-7 through NOAA-19 Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES), and are available back to 1981. Data for all years are available as separate NODC accessions.

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Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel non-public
contactPoint 
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  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:ncei.info@noaa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description The AVHRR Pathfinder Version 5.2 Sea Surface Temperature dataset (PFV52) is a collection of global, twice-daily 4km sea surface temperature data produced in a partnership by the NOAA National Oceanographic Data Center and the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. PFV52 was computed from data from the AVHRR instruments on board NOAA's polar orbiting satellite series using an entirely modernized system based on SeaDAS. This system incorporates several key changes from Versions 5.0 and 5.1 of Pathfinder, including the use of an entirely new land mask, a modified grid, and the inclusion of sea ice, wind speed, and aerosol ancillary data to support the use of the SST data. Importantly, PFV52 data are provided in netCDF-4 (classic model, with internal compression and chunking) and are nearly 100% compliant with the GHRSST Data Specification Version 2.0 for L3C products. These data deviate from that standard only in that sses_bias, sses_standard_deviation, and sst_dtime variables are empty. PFV52 data were collected through the operational periods of the NOAA-7 through NOAA-19 Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES), and are available back to 1981. Data for all years are available as separate NODC accessions.
distribution 
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identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/accessions/iso/xml/AVHRR_Pathfinder-NODC-L3C-v5.2.xml
issued 2011-03-08T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
[
  "0071185",
  "0073577",
  "0073578",
  "0073579",
  "0073580",
  "0073581",
  "0073582",
  "0073583",
  "0073584",
  "0073585",
  "0073586",
  "0073587",
  "0073588",
  "0073589",
  "0073590",
  "0073591",
  "0073592",
  "0073593",
  "0073594",
  "0073595",
  "0073596",
  "0073597",
  "0073598",
  "0073599",
  "0073600",
  "0073601",
  "0073602",
  "0073603",
  "0073604",
  "0073605",
  "0099811",
  "0111842",
  "SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE",
  "AVHRR-2",
  "AVHRR-3",
  "physical",
  "satellite data",
  "NOAA-11",
  "NOAA-14",
  "NOAA-16",
  "NOAA-17",
  "NOAA-18",
  "NOAA-19",
  "NOAA-7",
  "NOAA-9",
  "University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science",
  "US National Climatic Data Center",
  "US National Oceanographic Data Center",
  "US National Oceanographic Data Center",
  "Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST)",
  "Pathfinder",
  "World-Wide Distribution",
  "oceanography",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCDC > National Climatic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NODC > National Oceanographic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "U-MIAMI/RSMAS > Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami",
  "GHRSST > Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature",
  "NOAA OneStop Project",
  "NOAA/NASA PATHFINDER > NOAA/NASA Pathfinder Program",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN TEMPERATURE > SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE",
  "latitude",
  "longitude",
  "sea_ice_area_fraction",
  "sea_surface_skin_temperature",
  "time",
  "wind_speed",
  "AVHRR-2 > Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer-2",
  "AVHRR-3 > Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer-3",
  "NOAA-11 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-11",
  "NOAA-14 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-14",
  "NOAA-16 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-16",
  "NOAA-17 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-17",
  "NOAA-18 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-18",
  "NOAA-19 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-19",
  "NOAA-7 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-7",
  "NOAA-9 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-9",
  "NOAA-11 (ICES code: 3101, 1988-2004)",
  "NOAA-14 (ICES code: 3277, 1994-2007)",
  "NOAA-16 (ICES code: 33J9, 2000-2014)",
  "NOAA-17 (ICES code: 33ZS, 2002-2013)",
  "NOAA-18 (ICES code: 33WM, 2005-2016)",
  "NOAA-19 (ICES code: 33Y9, 2009-2016)",
  "NOAA-7 (ICES code: 33V2, 1981-1986)",
  "NOAA-9 (ICES code: 33OO, 1984-1998)",
  "GEOGRAPHIC REGION > GLOBAL OCEAN"
]
landingPage https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
language 
[]
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2021-10-15T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
{
  "name": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
[
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/climate-data-records/pathfinder-sea-surface-temperature",
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/avhrr-pathfinder-sst",
  "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8681-5_16",
  "https://doi.org/10.1029/1999jc000065",
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/ghrsst-long-term-stewardship-and-reanalysis-facility/",
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0207879"
]
rights otherRestrictions
spatial 180.0,-90.0,-180.0,90.0
temporal 1981-09-01T00:00:00+00:00/2012-12-31T00:00:00+00:00
theme 
[
  "geospatial"
]
title AVHRR Pathfinder version 5.2 level 3 collated (L3C) global 4km sea surface temperature for 1981-2012

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