Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center

SPoRT Sea Surface Temperature Composite

The SPoRT SST Composite is blend of the MODIS, NESDIS¹ SST products (except over the Great Lakes, where it is a blend of the MODIS and GLERL² SST products). The algorithm uses a 7-day collection of MODIS level-2B data and the most recent NESDIS and GLERL daily products. Two type of weighting are used in the compositing process. One weight is for the data latency and the other for the product type. The MODIS data, being at 1-km resolution, is given the most weight. All available confidence flags and bias information is incorporated. In the compositing process the field is calculated on a 2-km grid from approximately 0N to 80N and 130E to 10E. The SPoRT SST Composite product is computed twice-daily (nighttime and daytime). The MODIS data are obtained in near-real time from the GHRSST archive at JPL.

¹ The National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) GOES/POES SST Composite uses satellite data from GOES and POES. This product has global coverage at approximately 9-km resolution and is generated once per day. Additional information can be found at the NESDIS site.

² The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) lake surface temperatures are derived from NOAA polar-orbiting satellite imagery. The addition of ice cover information is provided by the National Ice Center. The product is at 1.8 km resolution and is produced once per day. Additional information can be found at the GLERL site.

SPoRT SST Composite Latency

The SPoRT SST Latency Composite is a qualitative measure of the age of the derived temperature computed for each pixel using the MODIS component of the SST composite. The output of this product is in "days late" in a weighted sense, including source, similar to that of the SST composite. The latency of the composite product is important so end-users know locations of most recently observed data as older data may be less accurate within the composite.