GHRSST Level 2P Global Sea Surface Skin Temperature from the Visible and Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi-NPP satellite (GDS version 2)

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: August 03, 2026 at 08:11 AM | Dataset Last Updated: September 24, 2022 at 12:00 AM

These files contain NASA produced skin sea surface temperature (SST) products from the Infrared (IR) channels of the Visible and Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the Suomi-NPP satellite. VIIRS is a multi-disciplinary instrument that is also being flown on the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) series of spacecraft, of which NOAA-20 is the first. JPSS is a multi-agency program that consolidates the polar orbiting spacecraft of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Suomi-NPP is the initial spacecraft in this series, and VIIRS is the successor to MODIS for Earth science data. VIIRS has 22 spectral bands ranging from 412 nm to 12 micron. There are 16 moderate-resolution bands (750m at nadir), 5 image-resolution bands (375 m), and one day-night band (DNB). VIIRS uses on-board pixel aggregation to reduce the growth in size of pixels away from nadir. Two SST products are contained in these files. The first is a skin SST produced separately for day and night 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 products from heritage and current NASA sensors. At night, a second triple channel SST product is generated using the 3.7, 11 and 12 micron IR channels, identified as SST_triple. Due to the sun glint in the 3.7 micron SST_triple can only be used at night. VIIRS L2P SST data have a 750 spatial resolution at nadir and are stored in ~288 five minute granules per day. Full global coverage is obtained each day. The production of VIIRS NASA 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 were responsible for sea surface temperature algorithm development, error statistics and quality flagging, while the OBPG, as the NASA ground data system, is responsible for the production of VIIRS ocean products. JPL acquires VIIRS ocean granules from the OBPG and reformats them to the GHRSST L2P netCDF specification with complete metadata and is the official Physical Oceanography Data Archive (PO.DAAC) for SST. In mid-August, 2018, the RSMAS involvement in the VIIRS SST project ceased, and the subsequent fields are not maintained. The R2016.2 supersedes the previous v2016.0 datasets.

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Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) VIIRS Sea Surface Temperature Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD)

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VIIRS SST products

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describedByType	application/octet-steam
description	These files contain NASA produced skin sea surface temperature (SST) products from the Infrared (IR) channels of the Visible and Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the Suomi-NPP satellite. VIIRS is a multi-disciplinary instrument that is also being flown on the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) series of spacecraft, of which NOAA-20 is the first. JPSS is a multi-agency program that consolidates the polar orbiting spacecraft of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Suomi-NPP is the initial spacecraft in this series, and VIIRS is the successor to MODIS for Earth science data. VIIRS has 22 spectral bands ranging from 412 nm to 12 micron. There are 16 moderate-resolution bands (750m at nadir), 5 image-resolution bands (375 m), and one day-night band (DNB). VIIRS uses on-board pixel aggregation to reduce the growth in size of pixels away from nadir. Two SST products are contained in these files. The first is a skin SST produced separately for day and night 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 products from heritage and current NASA sensors. At night, a second triple channel SST product is generated using the 3.7, 11 and 12 micron IR channels, identified as SST_triple. Due to the sun glint in the 3.7 micron SST_triple can only be used at night. VIIRS L2P SST data have a 750 spatial resolution at nadir and are stored in ~288 five minute granules per day. Full global coverage is obtained each day. The production of VIIRS NASA 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 were responsible for sea surface temperature algorithm development, error statistics and quality flagging, while the OBPG, as the NASA ground data system, is responsible for the production of VIIRS ocean products. JPL acquires VIIRS ocean granules from the OBPG and reformats them to the GHRSST L2P netCDF specification with complete metadata and is the official Physical Oceanography Data Archive (PO.DAAC) for SST. In mid-August, 2018, the RSMAS involvement in the VIIRS SST project ceased, and the subsequent fields are not maintained. The R2016.2 supersedes the previous v2016.0 datasets.
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GCMD Keywords, Version 21. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords", "describedByType": "application/octet-stream" }, { "@type": "dcat:Distribution", "title": "NCEI Contact Information", "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact", "mediaType": "text/html", "description": "Information for contacts at NCEI.", "describedByType": "application/octet-stream" } ]
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issued	2017-09-09T00:00:00.000+00:00
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"0243688", "0243916", "0244195", "0245957", "SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE", "WIND SPEED", "VIIRS", "satellite data", "SNPP", "NASA JPL PO.DAAC", "NASA JPL PO.DAAC", "Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST)", "World-Wide Distribution", "oceanography", "NASA/JPL/PODAAC > Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA", "GHRSST > Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature", "NOAA OneStop Project", "EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WINDS > SURFACE WINDS > WIND SPEED", "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN TEMPERATURE > SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE", "Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Temperature > Sea Surface Temperature > Sea Surface Skin Temperature", "VIIRS > Visible-Infrared Imager-Radiometer Suite", "Suomi-NPP > Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership", "GEOGRAPHIC REGION > GLOBAL OCEAN" ]
landingPage	https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
language	[]
license	https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified	2022-09-24T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher	{ "name": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information", "@type": "org:Organization" }
references	[ "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0123222/data/0-data/user-guides/GHRSSTUserGuidev91.pdf", "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0123222/data/0-data/project-documents/GDS20r5.pdf", "https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/sod/sst/squam/", "https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/jpss/documents/ATBD/D0001-M01-S01-010_JPSS_ATBD_VIIRS-SST_A.pdf", "https://doi.org/10.1175/jtech-d-13-00035.1", "https://doi.org/10.1002/2013jd020637", "https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274712459_VIIRS_SST_products", "https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2053184", "https://cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/concepts/C1996881456-POCLOUD.html", "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0123222" ]
rights	otherRestrictions
spatial	180.0,-89.9999,-180.0,89.9999
temporal	2017-07-19T00:00:00+00:00/2022-01-16T00:00:00+00:00
theme	[ "geospatial" ]
title	GHRSST Level 2P Global Sea Surface Skin Temperature from the Visible and Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi-NPP satellite (GDS version 2)

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