NOAA Optimum Interpolation 1/4 Degree Daily Sea Surface Temperature (OISST) Analysis, Version 2

This high-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) analysis product was developed using an optimum interpolation (OI) technique. The SST analysis has a spatial grid resolution of 0.25 (1/4) degree and temporal resolution of 1 day. The product uses Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite data from the Pathfinder AVHRR SST dataset when available for September 1981 through December 2005, and the operational Navy AVHRR Multi-Channel SST data for 2006 to the present day. Pathfinder AVHRR SST was chosen because of good agreement with the in situ observation data. The product also uses sea ice datasets, in situ data from ships and buoys, and includes a large-scale adjustment of satellite biases with respect to the in situ data. In areas where sea ice is present, SST is estimated from sea ice concentration datasets from NASA GSFC before 2005 and then from NOAA NCEP from 2005 onwards. Preliminary products are produced daily in near real-time (1-day latency) and may be updated in the first few days if critical input data become available after the initial production time. After two weeks, a complete or final product is generated with no additional changes expected. The preliminary products from near real-time data productions began in October 2008 for Version 2.0. The product is in netCDF-3 following the Climate and Forecast (CF) Conventions, and is accompanied by algorithm documentation, data flow diagram and source code under the NOAA CDR Program.