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NOAA Optimum Interpolation 1/4 Degree Daily Sea Surface Temperature (OISST) Analysis, Version 2

Published by DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: April 12, 2026 at 09:16 PM | Dataset Last Updated: November 12, 2008 at 12:00 AM
This high-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) analysis product was developed using an optimum interpolation (OI) technique. The SST analysis has a spatial grid resolution of 0.25 (1/4) degree and temporal resolution of 1 day. The product uses Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite data from the Pathfinder AVHRR SST dataset when available for September 1981 through December 2005, and the operational Navy AVHRR Multi-Channel SST data for 2006 to the present day. Pathfinder AVHRR SST was chosen because of good agreement with the in situ observation data. The product also uses sea ice datasets, in situ data from ships and buoys, and includes a large-scale adjustment of satellite biases with respect to the in situ data. In areas where sea ice is present, SST is estimated from sea ice concentration datasets from NASA GSFC before 2005 and then from NOAA NCEP from 2005 onwards. Preliminary products are produced daily in near real-time (1-day latency) and may be updated in the first few days if critical input data become available after the initial production time. After two weeks, a complete or final product is generated with no additional changes expected. The preliminary products from near real-time data productions began in October 2008 for Version 2.0. The product is in netCDF-3 following the Climate and Forecast (CF) Conventions, and is accompanied by algorithm documentation, data flow diagram and source code under the NOAA CDR Program.

Resources

11 resources available

  • NCEI Dataset Landing Page

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  • NCEI Product Information Page

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  • NCEI Direct Download (Dataset Files)

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  • NCEI THREDDS

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  • DSMR Publication at the NOAA Institutional Repository

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  • Journal article published November 2007 by the American Meteorological Society

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  • Google Scholar search results

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  • NCEI landing page for the GHRSST product

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  • Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Keywords

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  • GCOS Essential Climate Variables

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  • NOAA Climate Data Record Program

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Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel non-public
accrualPeriodicity R/P1D
contactPoint 
{
  "fn": "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:oisst_contacts@noaa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description This high-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) analysis product was developed using an optimum interpolation (OI) technique. The SST analysis has a spatial grid resolution of 0.25 (1/4) degree and temporal resolution of 1 day. The product uses Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite data from the Pathfinder AVHRR SST dataset when available for September 1981 through December 2005, and the operational Navy AVHRR Multi-Channel SST data for 2006 to the present day. Pathfinder AVHRR SST was chosen because of good agreement with the in situ observation data. The product also uses sea ice datasets, in situ data from ships and buoys, and includes a large-scale adjustment of satellite biases with respect to the in situ data. In areas where sea ice is present, SST is estimated from sea ice concentration datasets from NASA GSFC before 2005 and then from NOAA NCEP from 2005 onwards. Preliminary products are produced daily in near real-time (1-day latency) and may be updated in the first few days if critical input data become available after the initial production time. After two weeks, a complete or final product is generated with no additional changes expected. The preliminary products from near real-time data productions began in October 2008 for Version 2.0. The product is in netCDF-3 following the Climate and Forecast (CF) Conventions, and is accompanied by algorithm documentation, data flow diagram and source code under the NOAA CDR Program.
distribution 
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    "accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.7289/V5SQ8XB5",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Landing page for the dataset.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI Product Information Page",
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    "description": "Description of the data and related resources.",
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    "title": "NCEI Direct Download (Dataset Files)",
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    "description": "Direct download for the dataset.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
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  {
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    "title": "NCEI THREDDS",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/thredds/blended-global/oisst-catalog.html",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "THREDDS Data Server (TDS) for the dataset.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
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  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "DSMR Publication at the NOAA Institutional Repository",
    "accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.25923/x3hv-yb57",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Report documenting the Scientific Data Stewardship Maturity for this dataset.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Journal article published November 2007 by the American Meteorological Society",
    "mediaType": "placeholder/value",
    "description": "Reynolds, R. W., T. M. Smith, C. Liu, D. B. Chelton, K. S. Casey, and M. G. Schlax, 2007: Daily High-Resolution-Blended Analyses for Sea Surface Temperature. Journal of Climate, 20, 5473–5496, doi:10.1175/2007jcli1824.1.",
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    "mediaType": "text/html",
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    "title": "NCEI landing page for the GHRSST product",
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    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Related dataset landing page.",
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    "description": "The information provided on this page seeks to define how the GCMD Keywords are structured, used and accessed. It also provides information on how users can participate in the further development of the keywords.",
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]
identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/aim/iso/xml/C00844.xml
issued 2008-11-12T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
[
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Temperature > Sea Surface Temperature",
  "Oceanic - Surface - Sea-surface Temperature",
  "Satellite",
  "Geographic Region > Global Ocean",
  "Vertical Location > Sea Surface",
  "NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) Program",
  "NOAA OneStop Project",
  "AVHRR > Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCDC > National Climatic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce"
]
language 
[]
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2008-11-12T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
{
  "name": "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
[
  "https://doi.org/10.25923/x3hv-yb57",
  "https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JCLI1824.1",
  "https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=10.7289/V5SQ8XB5+OR+10.1175/2007jcli1824.1",
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/metadata/geoportal/rest/metadata/item/gov.noaa.nodc:GHRSST-AVHRR_OI-NCEI-L4-GLOB/html"
]
rights otherRestrictions
spatial 180.0,-90.0,-180.0,90.0
temporal 1981-09-01T00:00:00+00:00/1981-09-01T00:00:00+00:00
title NOAA Optimum Interpolation 1/4 Degree Daily Sea Surface Temperature (OISST) Analysis, Version 2

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