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Full catalog/GSSTFM
GSSTFM·v3·dataset

Heat and moisture rising off the ocean surface (monthly)

Goddard Satellite-Based Surface Turbulent Fluxes, 0.25 x 0.25 deg, Monthly Grid V3 (GSSTFM) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 4
In plain English

What it measures. Monthly maps of how much heat and moisture move between the ocean surface and the air above it, including evaporation that adds fresh water to the oceans. Values are averaged over each month onto a worldwide grid of quarter-degree cells.

How it's made. Built from measurements by DMSP satellites, averaged from daily files into a monthly gridded product covering the whole globe.

How & where you'd use it. Helps researchers study month-to-month and year-to-year climate variability, and understand how ocean evaporation drives ocean density and circulation.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE › SEA LEVEL PRESSUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › ATMOSPHERIC HEATINGATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › HEAT FLUXATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › RADIATIVE FLUXATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATURE › AIR TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATURE › SKIN TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR PROCESSES › EVAPORATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › HUMIDITYATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › TOTAL PRECIPITABLE WATERATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › WATER VAPORATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WINDS › SURFACE WINDSATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WINDS › WIND DYNAMICS › TURBULENCEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WINDS › WIND DYNAMICS › WIND STRESS

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1987-07-01 → 2008-12-31
  • Measured byDMSP (SSM/I)
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

These data are the Goddard Satellite-based Surface Turbulent Fluxes Version-3 Dataset recently produced through a MEaSUREs funded project led by Dr. Chung-Lin Shie (UMBC/GEST, NASA/GSFC), converted to HDF-EOS5 format. The stewardship of this HDF-EOS5 dataset is part of the MEaSUREs project. This is the fine resolution version of the previously released GSSTFM.2c. This is the Monthly product; data are projected to equidistant Grid that covers the globe at 0.25x00.25 degree cell size, resulting in data arrays of 1440x720 size. The monthly product is a result of averaging of a month worth of daily GSSTF3 files. Starting with Version 3, the "WB" variable, "lowest 500-m precipitable water" has been discontinued. The monthly temporal and one-degree spatial resolution of the product can be used to examining climate variability at these scales. Oceanic evaporation contributes to the net fresh water input to the oceans and drives the upper ocean density structure and consequently the circulation of the oceans. The short name for this product is GSSTFM.

Get the data

gsstfm_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="GSSTFM",
    version="3",
    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 GES_DISC
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.