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Description

A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at the UK Met Office using optimal interpolation (OI) on a global 0.05x0.05 degree grid. The Operational Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Ice Analysis (OSTIA) analysis uses satellite data from over 10 unique sensors that include the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI), the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) imager, the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI), the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Imager (TMI) and in situ data from ships, drifting and moored buoys. This analysis was specifically produced to be used as a lower boundary condition in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. This dataset adheres to the GHRSST Data Processing Specification (GDS) version 2 format specifications and is updated daily with 24-hours nominal latency in a Near Real Time (NRT) mode. UKMO also produces the higher quality reprocessed OSTIA L4 SST using more sensors and data with a biannual latency (https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/OSTIA-UKMO-L4-GLOB-REP-v2.0).

Product Summary

Platforms
GOES-16 ,
TRMM ,
METEOSAT-9 ,
NOAA-20 ,
BUOYS ,
METOP-A
Instruments
ABI ,
TMI ,
SEVIRI ,
AVHRR-3 ,
DRIFTING BUOYS
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
0.05 Decimal Degrees x 0.05 Decimal Degrees
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2006-12-31
Data Partner
Met Office, Ministry of Defence, United Kingdom (UK/MOD/MET) ,
Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA (NASA/JPL/PODAAC)
Concept ID
C2036877535-POCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
6961
Processing Level
4
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Sea Ice Concentration ,
Sea Surface Temperature

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

UKMO. (2012). GHRSST Level 4 OSTIA Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 2) [Data set]. NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/GHOST-4FK02 Date Accessed: 2026-02-17

Documents

Variables

The table below lists the variables contained within a single granule for this dataset. Variables often contain observed or derived geophysical measurements collected from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and model outputs. The terms variable, parameter, scientific data set, layer, and band have been used across NASA’s Earth science disciplines; however, variable is the designated nomenclature in NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR). Variable metadata attributes such as Name, Description, Units, Data Type, Fill Value, Valid Range, and Scale Factor allow users to efficiently process and analyze the data. The full range of attributes may not be applicable to all variables. Additional information on variable attributes is typically available in the data, user guide, and/or other product documentation.

For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
analysed_sst OSTIA foundation SST kelvin short -32768 -300 to 4500 0.01
analysis_error OSTIA foundation SST analysis standard deviation error kelvin short -32768 0 to 32767 0.01
lat Latitude geographical coordinates,WGS84 projection degrees_north float N/A -90 to 90 1
lon Longitude geographical coordinates,WGS84 projection degrees_east float N/A -180 to 180 1
mask Land/ open ocean/ sea ice /lake mask N/A byte -128 1 to 31 1
sea_ice_fraction Sea ice area fraction 1 byte -128 0 to 100 0.01
time seconds since 1981-01-01 00:00:00 int N/A N/A 1
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