Sea Surface Temperature (SST) maps

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This page shows maps of sea surface temperature. Read the Climate Driver Update for a review of recent and forecast information including Pacific and Indian oceans sea surface temperatures.


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About sea surface temperature analysis maps and data

Sea surface temperature (SST) analysis maps

Sea surface temperature analysis maps are available by region and by week or month. SST 'Anomaly' maps display the degree difference from the climatological average. In each map the average SST anomaly over the time period, in degrees Celsius, is indicated by the legend colours.

Sea surface temperature (SST) data

The weekly and monthly datasets are formed from weekly or monthly averages of daily SST values, and are updated either weekly or monthly in near real-time. The daily values are obtained from interpolated (gap-free) analyses on a 0.25° degree latitude by 0.25° degree longitude grid of the temperature of the uppermost 10 metres of the ocean under well-mixed conditions, based on observations from both in-water instruments and satellites. As observations are not always available within the specified time interval for all areas covered, the daily analysis systems uses 'statistical interpolation' to fill in the gaps using a weighted combination of the previous daily SST analysis and previous weekly SST analysis.

The temperature estimate is generally considered to be at approximately 0.2 metres depth (the depth of drifting buoys). However, as the observations used for the analysis have been selected for only well-mixed conditions, these temperatures are similar to temperatures down to approximately 10 metres. The maps provide SST analysis values for each 0.25° degree of latitude and longitude (approximately 28 km).

The observations used to derive the global daily SST analyses are obtained from drifting buoys, moored buoys, ships, and infrared radiometers aboard Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellites operated by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). In order to fill in some of the data gaps due to satellite infrared sensors that cannot penetrate cloud, they also incorporate SST observations from microwave sensors on polar-orbiting satellites operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Product Code: IDCK000064

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