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NOAA Optimum Interpolation 1/4 Degree Daily Sea Surface Temperature (OISST) Analysis, Version 2

Published by DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: January 27, 2026 | Last Modified: 2008-11-12T00:00:00.000+00:00
This high-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) analysis product was developed using an optimum interpolation (OI) technique. The SST analysis has a spatial grid resolution of 0.25 (1/4) degree and temporal resolution of 1 day. The product uses Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite data from the Pathfinder AVHRR SST dataset when available for September 1981 through December 2005, and the operational Navy AVHRR Multi-Channel SST data for 2006 to the present day. Pathfinder AVHRR SST was chosen because of good agreement with the in situ observation data. The product also uses sea ice datasets, in situ data from ships and buoys, and includes a large-scale adjustment of satellite biases with respect to the in situ data. In areas where sea ice is present, SST is estimated from sea ice concentration datasets from NASA GSFC before 2005 and then from NOAA NCEP from 2005 onwards. Preliminary products are produced daily in near real-time (1-day latency) and may be updated in the first few days if critical input data become available after the initial production time. After two weeks, a complete or final product is generated with no additional changes expected. The preliminary products from near real-time data productions began in October 2008 for Version 2.0. The product is in netCDF-3 following the Climate and Forecast (CF) Conventions, and is accompanied by algorithm documentation, data flow diagram and source code under the NOAA CDR Program.

Resources

11 resources available

  • NCEI Dataset Landing Page

    PLACEHOLDER/VALUE
    Download

  • NCEI Product Information Page

    PLACEHOLDER/VALUE
    Download

  • NCEI Direct Download (Dataset Files)

    PLACEHOLDER/VALUE
    Download

  • NCEI THREDDS

    FILE
    Visit Page

  • DSMR Publication at the NOAA Institutional Repository

    PLACEHOLDER/VALUE
    Download

  • Journal article published November 2007 by the American Meteorological Society

    PLACEHOLDER/VALUE
    Download

  • Google Scholar search results

    PLACEHOLDER/VALUE
    Download

  • NCEI landing page for the GHRSST product

    PLACEHOLDER/VALUE
    Download

  • Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Keywords

    PLACEHOLDER/VALUE
    Download

  • GCOS Essential Climate Variables

    PLACEHOLDER/VALUE
    Download

  • NOAA Climate Data Record Program

    PLACEHOLDER/VALUE
    Download

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Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel non-public
accrualPeriodicity R/P1D
contactPoint 
                                            {
  "fn": "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:oisst_contacts@noaa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description This high-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) analysis product was developed using an optimum interpolation (OI) technique. The SST analysis has a spatial grid resolution of 0.25 (1/4) degree and temporal resolution of 1 day. The product uses Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite data from the Pathfinder AVHRR SST dataset when available for September 1981 through December 2005, and the operational Navy AVHRR Multi-Channel SST data for 2006 to the present day. Pathfinder AVHRR SST was chosen because of good agreement with the in situ observation data. The product also uses sea ice datasets, in situ data from ships and buoys, and includes a large-scale adjustment of satellite biases with respect to the in situ data. In areas where sea ice is present, SST is estimated from sea ice concentration datasets from NASA GSFC before 2005 and then from NOAA NCEP from 2005 onwards. Preliminary products are produced daily in near real-time (1-day latency) and may be updated in the first few days if critical input data become available after the initial production time. After two weeks, a complete or final product is generated with no additional changes expected. The preliminary products from near real-time data productions began in October 2008 for Version 2.0. The product is in netCDF-3 following the Climate and Forecast (CF) Conventions, and is accompanied by algorithm documentation, data flow diagram and source code under the NOAA CDR Program.
distribution 
                                            [
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI Dataset Landing Page",
    "mediaType": "placeholder/value",
    "description": "Landing page for the dataset.",
    "downloadURL": "https://doi.org/10.7289/V5SQ8XB5",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-steam"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI Product Information Page",
    "mediaType": "placeholder/value",
    "description": "Description of the data and related resources.",
    "downloadURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/optimum-interpolation-sst",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-steam"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI Direct Download (Dataset Files)",
    "mediaType": "placeholder/value",
    "description": "Direct download for the dataset.",
    "downloadURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/sea-surface-temperature-optimum-interpolation/v2/access/",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-steam"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI THREDDS",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/thredds/blended-global/oisst-catalog.html",
    "description": "THREDDS Data Server (TDS) for the dataset.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-steam"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "DSMR Publication at the NOAA Institutional Repository",
    "mediaType": "placeholder/value",
    "description": "Report documenting the Scientific Data Stewardship Maturity for this dataset.",
    "downloadURL": "https://doi.org/10.25923/x3hv-yb57",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-steam"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Journal article published November 2007 by the American Meteorological Society",
    "mediaType": "placeholder/value",
    "description": "Reynolds, R. W., T. M. Smith, C. Liu, D. B. Chelton, K. S. Casey, and M. G. Schlax, 2007: Daily High-Resolution-Blended Analyses for Sea Surface Temperature. Journal of Climate, 20, 5473–5496, doi:10.1175/2007jcli1824.1.",
    "downloadURL": "https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JCLI1824.1",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-steam"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Google Scholar search results",
    "mediaType": "placeholder/value",
    "description": "Search results for publications that cite this dataset by its DOI(s).",
    "downloadURL": "https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=10.7289/V5SQ8XB5+OR+10.1175/2007jcli1824.1",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-steam"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI landing page for the GHRSST product",
    "mediaType": "placeholder/value",
    "description": "Related dataset landing page.",
    "downloadURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/metadata/geoportal/rest/metadata/item/gov.noaa.nodc:GHRSST-AVHRR_OI-NCEI-L4-GLOB/html",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-steam"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Keywords",
    "mediaType": "placeholder/value",
    "description": "The information provided on this page seeks to define how the GCMD Keywords are structured, used and accessed. It also provides information on how users can participate in the further development of the keywords.",
    "downloadURL": "https://earthdata.nasa.gov/about/gcmd/global-change-master-directory-gcmd-keywords",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-steam"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "GCOS Essential Climate Variables",
    "mediaType": "placeholder/value",
    "description": "Overview of the GCOS Essential Climate Variables.",
    "downloadURL": "https://public.wmo.int/en/programmes/global-climate-observing-system/essential-climate-variables",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-steam"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NOAA Climate Data Record Program",
    "mediaType": "placeholder/value",
    "description": "Home page for the NOAA CDR Program.",
    "downloadURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/climate-data-records",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-steam"
  }
]
identifier gov.noaa.ncdc:C00844
issued 2008-11-12T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
                                            [
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Temperature > Sea Surface Temperature",
  "Oceanic - Surface - Sea-surface Temperature",
  "Satellite",
  "Geographic Region > Global Ocean",
  "Vertical Location > Sea Surface",
  "NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) Program",
  "NOAA OneStop Project",
  "AVHRR > Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCDC > National Climatic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce"
]
language 
                                            []
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2008-11-12T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
                                            [
  "https://doi.org/10.25923/x3hv-yb57",
  "https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JCLI1824.1",
  "https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=10.7289/V5SQ8XB5+OR+10.1175/2007jcli1824.1",
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/metadata/geoportal/rest/metadata/item/gov.noaa.nodc:GHRSST-AVHRR_OI-NCEI-L4-GLOB/html"
]
rights otherRestrictions
spatial 180.0,-90.0,-180.0,90.0
temporal 1981-09-01T00:00:00+00:00/1981-09-01T00:00:00+00:00
title NOAA Optimum Interpolation 1/4 Degree Daily Sea Surface Temperature (OISST) Analysis, Version 2

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