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Full catalog/AVHRR_SST_METOP_B-OSISAF-L2P-v1.0
AVHRR_SST_METOP_B-OSISAF-L2P-v1.0·v1·dataset

How warm the sea surface is (MetOp-B)

GHRSST Level 2P 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 2P netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. Reports how warm the sea surface is (just below the skin) across the globe at about 1 km detail, generated in near real time as the satellite passes overhead.

How it's made. Retrieved from the AVHRR instrument on Europe's MetOp-B satellite, using multiple infrared channels corrected for atmospheric water vapor with weather-model data; produced by EUMETSAT's OSI SAF.

How & where you'd use it. Used operationally for ocean analyses and weather forecasting and for monitoring sea conditions and climate.

What's measured

OCEANS › OCEAN TEMPERATURE › SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE › SEA SURFACE SUBSKIN TEMPERATURE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2016-01-19 → ongoing
  • Measured byMETOP-B (AVHRR)
  • Processing levelLevel 2P
  • 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 1 km Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 2P dataset based on multi-channel sea surface temperature (SST) retrievals generated in real-time from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on the European Meteorological Operational-B (MetOp-B) satellite (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 product is delivered at full resolution in satellite projection as metagranule corresponding to 3 minutes of acquisition. The product format is compliant with the GHRSST Data Specification (GDS) version 2.

Get the data

avhrr_sst_metop_b-osisaf-l2p-v1.0_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="AVHRR_SST_METOP_B-OSISAF-L2P-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.