N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
Description
NSST provides global nighttime sea surface temperature estimates derived from thermal infrared observations acquired during local night to minimize diurnal warming and sun glint. Nighttime SST is widely used to detect ocean fronts, support fisheries habitat models (when paired with chlor_a, Kd_490, PAR), and provide stable inputs for air–sea fluxes and climate analyses. As with all IR-based SST, uncertainties increase under thin clouds, heavy aerosols/dust, or strong thermal gradients—refer to per-file flags and documentation before analysis.
Geophysical variables in this suite include:
• sst — Sea Surface Temperature (°C)
• qual_sst — Quality levels for Sea Surface Temperature (integer quality flag)
Product Summary
Documents
ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD)
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 Sort descending | Description | Units | Data Type | Fill Value | Valid Range | Scale Factor | Offset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| lat | lat | degrees_north | float32 | -999 | -90 to 90 | N/A | N/A |
| lon | lon | degrees_east | float32 | -999 | -180 to 180 | N/A | N/A |
| qual_sst | qual_sst | N/A | uint8 | 255 | 0 to 5 | N/A | N/A |
| sst | sst | degree_C | int16 | -32767 | -1000 to 10000 | 0.0049999998882413 | 0 |