BackForward Variable: Sea surface temperature

Definition
Full name Sea surface temperature
Definition Temperature of the sea water at surface. The “bulk” temperature refers to the depth of typically 2 m, the “skin” temperature refers to within the upper 1 mm.
Measuring Units K Uncertainty Units K
Horizontal Res Units km Vertical Res Units
Stability Units K (Stability /decade)

 

Comment: Detailed SST definitions are available from GHRSST: https://www.ghrsst.org/ghrsst-science/sst-definitions/
Last modified: 2011-06-15
Applied in OSCAR/Space Gap Analysis: Yes
Classification
  • Domain: Ocean
    • Sub-domain: Ocean
      • Variable: Sea surface temperature
        • Measured in Layers:
          • Sea surface
          • Bulk
  • Cross-cutting themes:

Requirements defined for Sea surface temperature  (11)

This tables shows all related requirements. For more operations/filtering, please consult the full list of Requirements
Note: In reading the values, goal is marked blue, breakthrough green, threshold orange
Application-dependent Technical Priority (ATP) Magenta and Relative priority of the attributes Red

Id Variable Layer App Area ATP Uncertainty Layer/s Quality Coverage Quality Stability / decade Hor Res Ver Res Obs Cyc Timeliness Coverage Conf Level Val Date Source General Comment Application Area Comment Horizontal Coverage Comment Observation Comment Performance Comment
6 Sea surface temperature Sea surface CLIC (deprecated) 0.5 K
0.8 K
2 K 		25 km
39.7 km
100 km 		24 h
30 h
2 d 		30 d
38 d
60 d 		Global ocean reasonable 1998-10-29 WCRP
106 Sea surface temperature Sea surface Climate-AOPC (deprecated) 0.25 K
0.4 K
1 K 		10 km
50 km
500 km 		3 h
6 h
24 h 		3 h
6 h
12 h 		Global ocean firm 2007-07-19 AOPC Bulk. Signal size supports this need. See P.D. Jones et al. 1999. Surface air temperature and its changes over the past 150 years. Rev. Geophys., in press.
201 Sea surface temperature Sea surface CLIVAR (deprecated) 0.1 K
0.2 K
0.3 K 		10 km
20 km
50 km 		3 h
4 h
6 h 		24 h
36 h
3 d 		Global ocean reasonable 1998-10-29 WCRP
292 Sea surface temperature Sea surface 2.1 Global Numerical Weather Prediction and Real-time Monitoring 0.3 K
0.5 K
1 K 		5 km
15 km
250 km 		3 h
24 h
5 d 		3 h
24 h
5 d 		Global ocean firm 2009-02-10 John Eyre
370 Sea surface temperature Sea surface 2.2 High-Resolution Numerical Weather Prediction 0.3 K
0.5 K
1 K 		1 km
5 km
20 km 		60 min
2 h
6 h 		30 min
60 min
6 h 		Global ocean firm 2011-08-04 JF Mahfouf
444 Sea surface temperature Sea surface 2.3 Nowcasting / Very Short-Range Forecasting 0.5 K
0.8 K
2 K 		5 km
10 km
50 km 		3 h
6 h
24 h 		3 h
6 h
24 h 		Global ocean firm 2013-04-03 P. Ambrosetti
560 Sea surface temperature Sea surface Climate-OOPC (deprecated) 0.1 K
0.126 K
0.2 K 		1 km
8 km
500 km 		60 min
3 h
24 h 		3 h
5 h
12 h 		Global ocean reasonable 2007-07-19 OOPC
737 Sea surface temperature Sea surface 2.8 Aeronautical Meteorology 1 K
2 K
5 K 		5 km
11 km
50 km 		60 min
60 min
2 y 		1 y
1 y
2 y 		Global firm 2014-03-27 J van der Meulen
757 Sea surface temperature 2.4 Sub-Seasonal to Longer Predictions 0.1 K
0.2 K
0.5 K 		50 km
85.5 km
250 km 		3 h
6 h
12 h 		3 h
6 h
24 h 		Global ocean firm 2009-01-19 Laura Ferranti Tropical ocean most important
835 Sea surface temperature Sea surface 2.5 Atmospheric Climate Monitoring 0.5 0.1 K 0.03 K 1 km
100 km 		60 min
7 d 		Global reasonable 2019-10-15 GCOS-200: The Global Observing System for Climate: Implementation Needs (Published 2016) Requirements in the GCOS-200 IP, Annex A, are only specified at the goal level.
1023 Sea surface temperature Sea surface
Bulk 		3.3 Oceanic Climate Monitoring and Services 0.5 0.05 K
0.3 K 		0.01 K
0.1 K 		5 km
100 km 		3 h
24 h 		Global reasonable 2023-08-17 GCOS-245: The 2022 ECVs Requirements (GCOS-245) Requirements for uncertainty are specified at 2-sigma OOPC (GOOS/GCOS/WCRP) is custodian of this Application Area Both sea surface (skin, remote sensing) and bulk (buoys, in situ platforms) are implicitly considered