GHRSST Level 2P Global Sea Surface Skin Temperature from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the NASA Aqua satellite (GDS versions 1 and 2)

Description

NASA produces skin sea surface temperature (SST) products from the Infrared (IR) channels of the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Aqua satellite. Aqua was launched by NASA on May 4, 2002, into a sun synchronous, polar orbit with a daylight ascending node at 1:30 pm, formation flying in the A-train with other Earth Observation Satellites (EOS), to study the global dynamics of the Earth atmosphere, land and oceans. MODIS captures data in 36 spectral bands at a variety of spatial resolutions. Two SST products can be present in these files. The first is a skin SST produced for both day and night (NSST) observations, derived from the long wave IR 11 and 12 micron wavelength channels, using a modified nonlinear SST algorithm intended to provide continuity of SST derived from heritage and current NASA sensors. At night, a second SST product is generated using the mid-infrared 3.95 and 4.05 micron wavelength channels which are unique to MODIS; the SST derived from these measurements is identified as SST4. The SST4 product has lower uncertainty, but due to sun glint can only be used at night. MODIS L2P SST data have a 1 km spatial resolution at nadir and are stored in 288 five minute granules per day. Full global coverage is obtained every two days, with coverage poleward of 32.3 degree being complete each day. The production of MODIS L2P SST files is part of the Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) project and is a joint collaboration between the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG), and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS). Researchers at RSMAS are responsible for SST algorithm development, error statistics and quality flagging, while the OBPG, as the NASA ground data system, is responsible for the production of daily MODIS ocean products. JPL acquires MODIS ocean granules from the OBPG and reformats them to the GHRSST L2P netCDF specification with complete metadata and ancillary variables, and distributes the data as the official Physical Oceanography Data Archive (PO.DAAC) for SST. The R2019.0 supersedes the previous R2014.0 datasets.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
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 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Navigate directly to the URL for data access and direct download. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/ghrsst/L2P/MODIS_A/JPL/
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/ghrsst/L2P/MODIS_A/JPL/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
33 Online document https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0123222/data/0-data/user-guides/GHRSSTUserGuidev91.pdf
33 Description of the prototype algorithm for MODIS sea surface temperature estimation https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/atbd/atbd_mod25.pdf
0 product documentation https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/atbd/sst/
0 product documentation https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/atbd/sst4/
0 NOAA Central Library: Technical Report https://doi.org/10.25923/p2yd-2m38
0 Institution web page https://library.noaa.gov/
0 related journal article https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.04.023
0 Information for contacts at NCEI. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
33 Online document https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0123222/data/0-data/project-documents/GDS20r5.pdf
0 Navigate directly to the URL for a descriptive web page with download links. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/GHRSST-MODIS_A-JPL-L2P
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 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/AWbxHZ3dYJ6J3EnSGyvx
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
21 MODIS_A-JPL-L2P-v2019.0 https://cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/concepts/C1940473819-POCLOUD.html
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/ghrsst/L2P/MODIS_A/JPL/catalog.html
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 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/AWbxHZ3dYJ6J3EnSGyvx
0 Navigate directly to the URL for data access and direct download. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/ghrsst/L2P/MODIS_A/JPL/
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/ghrsst/L2P/MODIS_A/JPL/
0 Information for contacts at NCEI. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
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 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 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
33 Online document https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0123222/data/0-data/user-guides/GHRSSTUserGuidev91.pdf
33 Online document https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0123222/data/0-data/project-documents/GDS20r5.pdf
33 Description of the prototype algorithm for MODIS sea surface temperature estimation https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/atbd/atbd_mod25.pdf
0 Institution web page https://library.noaa.gov/
0 related journal article https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.04.023
0 project documentation https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0123222
0 Navigate directly to the URL for a descriptive web page with download links. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/GHRSST-MODIS_A-JPL-L2P
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/ghrsst/L2P/MODIS_A/JPL/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 product documentation https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/atbd/sst/
0 product documentation https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/atbd/sst4/
0 NOAA Central Library: Technical Report https://doi.org/10.25923/p2yd-2m38
21 MODIS_A-JPL-L2P-v2019.0 https://cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/concepts/C1940473819-POCLOUD.html
0 Navigate directly to the URL for a descriptive web page with download links. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/GHRSST-MODIS_A-JPL-L2P
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/AWbxHZ3dYJ6J3EnSGyvx
0 Navigate directly to the URL for data access and direct download. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/ghrsst/L2P/MODIS_A/JPL/
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/ghrsst/L2P/MODIS_A/JPL/
0 Information for contacts at NCEI. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
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 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
33 Online document https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0123222/data/0-data/user-guides/GHRSSTUserGuidev91.pdf
33 Online document https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0123222/data/0-data/project-documents/GDS20r5.pdf
33 Description of the prototype algorithm for MODIS sea surface temperature estimation https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/atbd/atbd_mod25.pdf
0 product documentation https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/atbd/sst/
0 product documentation https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/atbd/sst4/
0 NOAA Central Library: Technical Report https://doi.org/10.25923/p2yd-2m38
0 related journal article https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.04.023
21 MODIS_A-JPL-L2P-v2019.0 https://cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/concepts/C1940473819-POCLOUD.html
0 project documentation https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0123222
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/ghrsst/L2P/MODIS_A/JPL/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 a descriptive web page with download links. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/GHRSST-MODIS_A-JPL-L2P
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/AWbxHZ3dYJ6J3EnSGyvx
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/ghrsst/L2P/MODIS_A/JPL/catalog.html
0 Navigate directly to the URL for data access and direct download. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/ghrsst/L2P/MODIS_A/JPL/
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/ghrsst/L2P/MODIS_A/JPL/
0 Information for contacts at NCEI. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
0 Institution web page https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/
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 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 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
33 Online document https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0123222/data/0-data/user-guides/GHRSSTUserGuidev91.pdf
33 Online document https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0123222/data/0-data/project-documents/GDS20r5.pdf
33 Description of the prototype algorithm for MODIS sea surface temperature estimation https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/atbd/atbd_mod25.pdf
0 product documentation https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/atbd/sst/
0 product documentation https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/atbd/sst4/
0 NOAA Central Library: Technical Report https://doi.org/10.25923/p2yd-2m38
0 related journal article https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.04.023
21 MODIS_A-JPL-L2P-v2019.0 https://cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/concepts/C1940473819-POCLOUD.html
0 project documentation https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0123222

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