sensing · methodologies

Sea-surface temperature retrieval

Retrieves ocean skin or subskin temperature from calibrated thermal-infrared split-window radiances, with passive-microwave radiometry providing coarser all-weather SST continuity.

Sea-surface temperature retrieval estimates the temperature of the ocean surface from calibrated radiance, not land emissivity. The high-resolution operational route is thermal-infrared split-window retrieval under clear sky; microwave SST retrieval supplies lower-resolution, cloud-penetrating continuity for all-weather ocean analyses.^[1]^[2] It is first-choice for SST mapping but should not be reused as a land-surface-temperature method because ocean emissivity, skin-depth, validation, and cloud-screening assumptions differ.

Sources

[1]Sea Surface Temperatureagency doc2026-06-08
[2]MODIS Infrared Sea Surface Temperature Algorithm Theoretical Basis Documentagency doc2026-06-08

Cite https://eo-atlas.org/methodologies/sea-surface-temperature-retrieval Markdown twin → Field definitions →