GHRSST Level 3U Global Subskin Sea Surface Temperature from GMI onboard GPM satellite

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite was launched on February 27th, 2014 with the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument on board. The GPM mission is a joint effort between NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and other international partners. In march 2005, NASA has chosen the Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado to build the GMI instrument on the continued success of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite by expanding current coverage of precipitation from the tropics to the entire world. GMI is a dual-polarization, multi-channel, conical-scanning, passive microwave radiometer with frequent revisit times. One of the primary differences between GPM and other satellites with microwave radiometers is the orbit, which is inclined 65 degrees, allowing a full sampling of all local Earth times repeated approximately every 2 weeks. The GPM platform undergoes yaw maneuvers approximately every 40 days to compensate for the sun's changing position and prevent the side of the spacecraft facing the sun from overheating. Today, the GMI instrument plays an essential role in the worldwide measurement of precipitation and environmental forecasting. Sea Surface Temperature (SST) is one of its major products. The GMI data from the Remote Sensing System (REMSS) have been produced using an updated RTM, Version-8. The V8 brightness temperatures from GMI are slightly different from the V7 brightness temperatures; The SST datasets are available in near-real time (NRT) as they arrive, with a delay of about 3 to 6 hours, including the Daily, 3-Day, Weekly, and Monthly time series products.