AVHRR Pathfinder version 5.0, interim version 5.0, and version 5.1 global 4km sea surface temperature (SST) data for 1981-2009

Description

The 4 km Pathfinder effort at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) and the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) is an extension of, and improvement on, the sea surface temperature (SST) fields from the NOAA/NASA AVHRR Oceans 9km Pathfinder dataset. In this 4 km Pathfinder project, some important shortcomings in the original 9 km data have been corrected, and the entire time series has been reprocessed at the 4 km Global Area Coverage (GAC) level, the highest resolution possible globally. Twice-daily SST and related parameters back to 1981 have been produced, as well as temporal averages for 5-day, 7-day, 8-day, monthly, and yearly periods. In addition, cloud-screened products were developed from these Pathfinder Version 5 data at the NODC, including 5-day cloud-screened full-resolution data, 5-day cloud-screened one-degree binned data, and 5-day cloud-screened gap-filled full-resolution data products. Associated climatologies and region-specific (Gulf of Mexico) GeoTIFF image products were also produced from these data. This dataset includes the temporally averaged SST data and related parameters available for 1981-2009. Data and data products for all years and time periods are available as separate NCEI accessions. These data were collected through the operational periods of the NOAA-7 through NOAA-18 Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES).

Resources

Name Format Description Link
0 Navigate directly to the URL for a descriptive web page with download links. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/AVHRR_Pathfinder-NODC-v5.0_v5.1
0 Search for data granules belonging to this collection (a granule is the smallest aggregation of data that can be independently described and retrieved). https://data.noaa.gov/onestop/collections/granules/AWbw7-peYJ6J3EnSGyQY
0 Related data https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/AVHRR_Pathfinder-NODC-v5.0_v5.1-climatologies
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Navigate directly to the URL for data access and direct download. http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/pathfinder/Version5.0_5.1/
0 These data are available through the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP is no longer supported by most internet browsers. You may copy and paste the FTP link to the data into an FTP client (e.g., FileZilla or WinSCP). ftp://ftp-oceans.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data.nodc/pathfinder/Version5.0_5.1/
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page http://www.rsmas.miami.edu
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page http://www.rsmas.miami.edu
0 Information for contacts at NCEI. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2023. GCMD Keywords, Version 17. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2023. GCMD Keywords, Version 17. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 Dataset documentation https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/avhrr-pathfinder-sst
0 chapter in book https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8681-5_16
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Online Document https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JC000065
0 archive website https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/ghrsst-long-term-stewardship-and-reanalysis-facility/
0 Documentation https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0207879
0 Institution web page http://www.rsmas.miami.edu
0 Related data https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0110657
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
0 Institution web page https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2001)014<3801:GARSST>2.0.CO;2
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(2000)081<1525:AIAOPA>2.3.CO;2
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1029/95JC00365
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002670
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1029/JC095iC08p13341
0 journal article https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2544220
21 Institution web page http://www.esa.int/esaCP/index.html
0 Institution web page https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2023. GCMD Keywords, Version 17. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2023. GCMD Keywords, Version 17. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 TIROS-N thru N-14 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/satellite/publications/podguides/TIROS-N%20thru%20N-14/
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2002)015<1609:AIISAS>2.0.CO;2
0 Information for contacts at NCEI. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
0 Institution web page https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/
0 PO.DAAC SST web page http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/SeaSurfaceTemperature
0 Related data https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/AVHRR_Pathfinder-NODC-v5.0-climatologies
21 These data are available through a variety of services via a THREDDS (Thematic Real-time Environmental Distributed Data Services) Data Server (TDS). Depending on the dataset, the TDS can provide WMS, WCS, DAP, HTTP, and other data access and metadata services as well. For more information on the TDS, see http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/thredds/current/tds/. http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/thredds-ocean/catalog/pathfinder/Version5.0_5.1/catalog.html
0 Navigate directly to the URL for a descriptive web page. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/avhrr-pathfinder-sst
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2023. GCMD Keywords, Version 17. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 CDR documentation https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/climate-data-records/pathfinder-sea-surface-temperature
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2023. GCMD Keywords, Version 17. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012%3C1848:ACOSAI%3E2.0.CO;2
0 Institution web page https://www.esa.int/
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1029/2002jd002670
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1029/jc095ic08p13341
0 journal article https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2544220
0 Navigate directly to the URL for data access and direct download. http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/pathfinder/Version5.0_5.1/
0 These data are available through the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP is no longer supported by most internet browsers. You may copy and paste the FTP link to the data into an FTP client (e.g., FileZilla or WinSCP). ftp://ftp-oceans.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data.nodc/pathfinder/Version5.0_5.1/
0 Navigate directly to the URL for a descriptive web page. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/avhrr-pathfinder-sst
0 Navigate directly to the URL for a descriptive web page with download links. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/AVHRR_Pathfinder-NODC-v5.0_v5.1
0 Search for data granules belonging to this collection (a granule is the smallest aggregation of data that can be independently described and retrieved). https://data.noaa.gov/onestop/collections/granules/AWbw7-peYJ6J3EnSGyQY
0 Information for contacts at NCEI. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
0 Institution web page https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page http://www.rsmas.miami.edu
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page http://www.rsmas.miami.edu
0 Institution web page http://www.rsmas.miami.edu
0 Institution web page http://www.rsmas.miami.edu
0 Institution web page https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page http://www.rsmas.miami.edu
0 Information for contacts at NCEI. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1029/95jc00365
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 21. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 21. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 21. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 CDR documentation https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/climate-data-records/pathfinder-sea-surface-temperature
0 Dataset documentation https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/avhrr-pathfinder-sst
0 chapter in book https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8681-5_16
0 Online Document https://doi.org/10.1029/1999jc000065
0 archive website https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/ghrsst-long-term-stewardship-and-reanalysis-facility/
0 Documentation https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0207879
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 PO.DAAC website https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/SeaSurfaceTemperature
0 Related data https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/AVHRR_Pathfinder-NODC-v5.0_v5.1-climatologies
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Related data https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0110657
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Related data https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/AVHRR_Pathfinder-NODC-v5.0-climatologies
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 TIROS-N thru N-14 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/satellite/publications/podguides/TIROS-N%20thru%20N-14/
0 Institution web page https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
0 Institution web page https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012<1848:acosai>2.0.co;2
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2001)014<3801:garsst>2.0.co;2
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2002)015<1609:aiisas>2.0.co;2
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(2000)081<1525:aiaopa>2.3.co;2
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 21. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
21 These data are available through a variety of services via a THREDDS (Thematic Real-time Environmental Distributed Data Services) Data Server (TDS). Depending on the dataset, the TDS can provide WMS, WCS, DAP, HTTP, and other data access and metadata services as well. For more information on the TDS, see http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/thredds/current/tds/. http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/thredds-ocean/catalog/pathfinder/Version5.0_5.1/catalog.html
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 21. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 21. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 Navigate directly to the URL for data access and direct download. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/pathfinder/Version5.0_5.1/
0 These data are available through the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP is no longer supported by most internet browsers. You may copy and paste the FTP link to the data into an FTP client (e.g., FileZilla or WinSCP). ftp://ftp-oceans.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data.nodc/pathfinder/Version5.0_5.1/
0 Navigate directly to the URL for a descriptive web page. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/avhrr-pathfinder-sst
0 Navigate directly to the URL for a descriptive web page with download links. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/AVHRR_Pathfinder-NODC-v5.0_v5.1
0 Search for data granules belonging to this collection (a granule is the smallest aggregation of data that can be independently described and retrieved). https://data.noaa.gov/onestop/collections/granules/AWbw7-peYJ6J3EnSGyQY
0 Information for contacts at NCEI. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
0 Institution web page https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page http://www.rsmas.miami.edu
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page http://www.rsmas.miami.edu
0 Institution web page http://www.rsmas.miami.edu
0 Institution web page http://www.rsmas.miami.edu
0 Institution web page https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page http://www.rsmas.miami.edu
0 Information for contacts at NCEI. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 21. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1029/2002jd002670
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1029/jc095ic08p13341
0 Institution web page https://www.esa.int/
21 These data are available through a variety of services via a THREDDS (Thematic Real-time Environmental Distributed Data Services) Data Server (TDS). Depending on the dataset, the TDS can provide WMS, WCS, DAP, HTTP, and other data access and metadata services as well. For more information on the TDS, see http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/thredds/current/tds/. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/thredds-ocean/catalog/pathfinder/Version5.0_5.1/catalog.html
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 21. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 21. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 21. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 CDR documentation https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/climate-data-records/pathfinder-sea-surface-temperature
0 Dataset documentation https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/avhrr-pathfinder-sst
0 chapter in book https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8681-5_16
0 Online Document https://doi.org/10.1029/1999jc000065
0 archive website https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/ghrsst-long-term-stewardship-and-reanalysis-facility/
0 Documentation https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0207879
0 Institution web page http://www.miami.edu/
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 PO.DAAC website https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/SeaSurfaceTemperature
0 Related data https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/AVHRR_Pathfinder-NODC-v5.0_v5.1-climatologies
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page http://www.miami.edu/
0 Institution web page http://www.miami.edu/
0 Institution web page http://www.miami.edu/
0 Related data https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0110657
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page http://www.miami.edu/
0 Institution web page http://www.miami.edu/
0 Institution web page http://www.miami.edu/
0 Related data https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/AVHRR_Pathfinder-NODC-v5.0-climatologies
0 Institution web page https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/
0 Institution web page http://www.miami.edu/
0 Institution web page http://www.miami.edu/
0 Institution web page https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
0 Institution web page https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012%3C1848:acosai%3E2.0.co;2
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2001)014%3C3801:garsst%3E2.0.co;2
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2002)015%3C1609:aiisas%3E2.0.co;2
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(2000)081%3C1525:aiaopa%3E2.3.co;2
0 journal article https://doi.org/10.1029/95jc00365
0 journal article https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2544220
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 21. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 21. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
0 Institution web page http://www.miami.edu/
0 TIROS-N thru N-14 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/satellite/publications/podguides/TIROS-N%20thru%20N-14/

Tags

  • 9km pathfinder
  • reef monitoring and assessment
  • corals
  • sea surface temperature
  • biosphere
  • oceans
  • water temperature
  • ocean temperature
  • oceanography
  • earth science
  • mcsst
  • avhrr
  • 4km pathfinder
  • nlsst
  • zoology
  • satellite (digital scans)
  • remote sensing

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