Ocean Sea Surface Temperatures (SST)

About Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (SST) maps

Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (SST) maps are available by region and by week or month.

In each map the average SST anomaly over the time period, in degrees Celsius, is indicated by the legend colours.

SST 'Anomaly' maps display the degree difference from normal conditions (climatology).

The maps are generated by computer analysis systems, without manual quality control. The maps show interpolated (gap-free) analyses of the temperature of the uppermost metre of the ocean, based on observations from both in-water instruments and satellites, and are updated either monthly, weekly. As observations are not always available within the specified time interval for all areas covered, the analysis systems use “statistical interpolation” to fill in the gaps using a weighted combination of the previous SST analysis and climatology (the average SST for that region and time of year).

Weekly SST anomaly maps are available in near real-time (1 to 8 days lag). The monthly SST and anomaly maps are derived by averaging the relevant weekly SST values over the month. The temperature estimate is at approximately 0.2 metres depth. The maps provide SST analysis values for each 1 degree of latitude and longitude (approximately 100km).

The observations used to derive the global weekly SST analyses are obtained from drifting and moored buoys, ships, Argo floats and Expendable Bathythermographs (XBTs) and infrared radiometers aboard Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellites operated by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the European Space Agency (ESA).

See Beggs et al. (2011) for more information