A decade of sea surface temperature from MODIS

Abstract

The MODIS (MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers) on the Terra and Aqua satellites, both part of NASA's Earth Observing System, have each been providing high quality global sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) for over a decade. The ability to retrieve accurate SST from satellites is dependent on many factors including spectral response, radiometer noise, pre-launch instrument characterization and in flight behavior, calibration, viewing geometry, cloud screening and correction of the clear-sky atmospheric effects. We present a characterization of both the historical and current MODIS SST products, and we describe the evolution of, and motivation for, improvements in MODIS SST for each Collection released to the public, i.e., each radiance level mission data reprocessing, each driven by improved knowledge of the instrument behavior and better corrections for instrumental artifacts.