OISST version3     

Developed by NOAA scientists Dick Reynolds and Tom Smith in the 1990s, OISST has long served as the reference data-driven analysis of global sea surface temperature (SST) for the satellite era (beginning in late-1981 and continuing to today) and has been used for studies ranging from maritime fisheries and weather to climate variability and change. OISST has undergone several revisions, the most recent of which was version 2 in 2007. This project is a collaboration between NOAA (Garrett Graham, Boyin Huang, Xungang Yin, Huai-min Zhang) and University (James Carton and Ligang Chen) scientists to produce a next-generation version of OISST that exploits improvements in historical satellite and in situ data sets as well as improved analysis techniques in order that OISST can continue its role as the climate reference SST analysis for the satellite era. We gratefully acknowledge financial support for this effort provided by the NOAA Office of Global Programs.

Satellite-based observations of upwelling earth radiation in the μwave through visible wavelength bands can be used to infer SST after correcting for atmospheric absorption and emission. Such calibrated satellite observations in the infrared-visible bands began with the NOAA7 polar orbiter in 1981. Successive polar orbiters NOAA9 through NOAA14 provided continuous observations through 1999. Beginning in the 2000s the numbers of satellites with SST sensors grew rapidly, as did the extent and accuracy of the in situ SST observing system (which is used for calibration). Among the important challenges to improving OISST are to improve the early decades: 1981-1999. Reprocessing of these early satellite radiances by the NOAA Advanced Clear-Sky Processor for Ocean (ACSPO) enterprise group has made this possible


Credit: James Carton 10/05/2022