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Full catalog/AVHRR_SST_METOP_B_GLB-OSISAF-L3C-v1.0
AVHRR_SST_METOP_B_GLB-OSISAF-L3C-v1.0·v1·dataset

How warm the sea surface is (MetOp AVHRR)

GHRSST L3C global sub-skin Sea Surface Temperature from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on Metop satellites (currently Metop-B) (GDS V2) produced by OSI SAF
ocean NASA POCLOUD Level 3 netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. How warm the sea surface is, measured just below the very top skin of the water, mapped globally onto a 0.05-degree grid twice a day.

How it's made. Retrieved from the AVHRR instrument on the MetOp-B satellite, using its infrared channels and a correction for atmospheric water vapor, then remapped to a regular global grid following GHRSST standards.

How & where you'd use it. Supports weather forecasting, ocean and climate monitoring, fisheries, and tracking marine heat waves and currents.

What's measured

OCEANS › OCEAN TEMPERATURE › SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE › Subskin Sea Surface Temperature

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2016-01-06 → ongoing
  • Measured byMETOP-B (AVHRR-3)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -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

A global Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 3 Collated (L3C) dataset derived from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on the European Meteorological Operational-B (MetOp-B) platform (launched 17 Sep 2012). The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (OSI SAF) is producing SST products in near real time from Metop/AVHRR. Global AVHRR level 1b data are acquired at Meteo-France/Centre de Meteorologie Spatiale (CMS) through the EUMETSAT/EUMETCAST system. SST is retrieved from the AVHRR infrared channels (3.7, 10.8 and 12.0 micrometer) using a multispectral algorithm. Atmospheric profiles of water vapor and temperature from a numerical weather prediction model, together with a radiatiave transfer model, are used to correct the multispectral algorithm for regional and seasonal biases due to changing atmospheric conditions. This global L3C product is derived from full resolution AVHRR l1b data that are re-mapped onto a 0.05 degree grid twice daily. The product format is compliant with the GHRSST Data Specification (GDS) version 2.

Get the data

avhrr_sst_metop_b_glb-osisaf-l3c-v1.0_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="AVHRR_SST_METOP_B_GLB-OSISAF-L3C-v1.0",
    version="1",
    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.