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Full catalog/AMSR2-REMSS-L3U_RT-v8.2
AMSR2-REMSS-L3U_RT-v8.2·v8.2·dataset

Sea surface temperature from microwave, near-real-time (AMSR2)

GHRSST Level 3U Global Global Near-Real Subskin Sea Surface Temperature version 8.2 (v8.2) from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) on the GCOM-W satellite by REMSS
ocean NASA POCLOUD Level 3 netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. Sea surface temperature (how warm the ocean is just beneath the surface) across the globe, delivered very quickly after observation.

How it's made. Derived from faint natural microwave energy measured by the AMSR2 instrument on Japan's GCOM-W satellite, processed into near-real-time temperature maps usually within about 3 hours.

How & where you'd use it. Supports weather forecasting, ocean monitoring, and storm tracking where fresh data matters; a strength of microwave readings is that they work even through clouds.

What's measured

OCEANS › OCEAN TEMPERATURE › SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE › SUB-SKIN SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2012-07-02 → ongoing
  • Measured byGCOM-W1 (AMSR2)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-179, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Watch sea-surface temperature and marine heatwaves
  • Spot algal blooms and ocean-colour shifts
  • Support fisheries and coastal monitoring
Official description

This product contains a near-real-time (NRT) Level-3U Sea Surface Temperature (SST) (identified by "_rt_" within the file name) for the Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Project, which is derived from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) by Remote Sensing Systems (RSS, or REMSS). AMSR2 was launched on 18 May 2012, onboard the Global Change Observation Mission - Water (GCOM-W) satellite developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The GCOM-W mission aims to establish the global and long-term observation system to collect data, which is needed to understand mechanisms of climate and water cycle variations, and demonstrate its utilization. AMSR2 onboard the first generation of the GCOM-W satellite will continue Aqua/AMSR-E observations of water vapor, cloud liquid water, precipitation, SST, sea surface wind speed, sea ice concentration, snow depth, and soil moisture. AMSR2 is a remote sensing instrument for measuring weak microwave emission from the surface and the atmosphere of the Earth. The antenna of AMSR2 rotates once per 1.5 seconds and obtains data over a 1450 km swath. This conical scan mechanism enables AMSR2 to acquire a set of daytime and nighttime data with more than 99% coverage of the Earth every 2 days. The NRT SST is made as available as soon as possible, generally within 3 hours latency. The v8.2 supersedes the previous v8a dataset which can be found at https://www.doi.org/10.5067/GHAM2-3TR8A.

Get the data

amsr2-remss-l3u_rt-v8.2_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="AMSR2-REMSS-L3U_RT-v8.2",
    version="8.2",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from POCLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.