1. NOAA Report on Ocean Parameters - SST Presented to CGMS-43 Working Group 2 session, agenda item 9 Author: Sasha Ignatov

2. Also highlighted is the NOAA SST monitoring and Validation system
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to provide an update of the new SST that is now available from VIIRS onboard S-NPP (launched in 2011), and follow-on J1 (2017) and J2 (2022). VIIRS spatial resolution, radiometric performance, image quality, and wide swath are enabling new unprecedented SST remote sensing capabilities.
Product highlighted: VIIRS SST. The presentation discusses access to product, its accuracy, and application activities promoting its use.
Also highlighted is the NOAA SST monitoring and Validation system
Concern #1: VIIRS SST is a real time product. Reprocessing of full VIIRS SST record and creation of “collection 1” is currently underway. Reprocessing will be done periodically, with best data calibration & retrieval algorithms
Concern #2: Work is underway to create a high-quality, uniform SST climate data record from AVHRR sensors from 1981-pr. Consistency and continuity with VIIRS SST should be ensured

3. Operational with S-NPP VIIRS (and will be used with J1 and J2 VIIRS)
NOAA VIIRS SST Product
Evolves from AVHRR heritage onboard NOAA and Metop satellites (since 2008)
Operational with S-NPP VIIRS (and will be used with J1 and J2 VIIRS)
Used to produce SST from Himawari AHI and GOES-R ABI
Standard product format recommended by the international Group for High- Resolution SST (GHRSST) (consensus between data producers and users)
Data distributed via NOAA and EUMETCAST, and archived in GHRSST archives: Physical Oceanography DAAC, and NOAA Centers for Environmental Information
Provides complete global daily coverage, over cloud-free ocean
Shows superior performance to all existing SST products. Meets and exceeds all JPSS accuracy and precision specs
Continuously monitored and validated in the comprehensive NOAA SST Monitoring System (along with other products produced by NOAA partners)
Used (or planned to be used) in major weather centers – US NCEP, Canadian Met Centre, UK MO, JMA, and Bureau of Meteorology (Australia)
NOAA ACSPO SST retrieval system included in the Community Satellite Processing Package (CSPP)
Specific for nesdis

4. JPSS and GOES-R SST Products
SST is an essential climate variable
VIIRS/ABI unprecedented imagery, accuracy, precision, spatial/temporal resolution lead to superior SST analysis, forecast, applications
JPSS SST is fused with other satellite and in situ SSTs, to produce blended L4 products. GOES-R SST will be included in analyses
S-NPP VIIRS
MSG SEVIRI
VIIRS/ABI resolution & quality is unique, and allows exploration of new techniques including pattern recognition, temporal analysis, and radiative transfer methodology
SST products are continuously monitored and validated on the web in near real time, to ensure their optimal applications 4

5. NOAA SST Monitoring
NOAA leads monitoring and Cal/Val of NOAA and partners’ SST products
Products are monitored online in near-real time, to ensure high quality & consistency, to support and facilitate SST applications 5

6. VIIRS SST Precision (STD wrt. in situ buoy data)
Initial VIRRS SST produced by NPOESS
did not meet specs & was discontinued
EUMETSAT Metop-A
ACSPO Metop-A
All ACSPO products from AVHRR, VIIRS,
And MODIS are in family & meet specs
All NOAA satellite SST products are highly precise, accurate, consistent across platforms and sensors
VIIRS SST is superior to other similar products from AVHRR and MODIS

7. Assimilation of NOAA VIIRS SST at CMC
Bruce Brasnett Canadian Meteorological Centre May, 2014

8. Using ACSPO Improves CMC Assimilation
ACSPO VIIRS L2P is an excellent product
Daily coverage is very good, especially over internal and coastal waters, in the Tropics, and in the High Latitudes
ACSPO VIIRS contains more information than other SST data currently assimilated at CMC
CMC started assimilating ACSPO VIIRS SST in May 2014
Period: Jan. 1 to Feb. 5, A data outage of the NAVO data made it impossible to use a 3-month comparison period.

9. Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites - CGMS
VIIRS flown in the 1:30am/pm orbit is used in concert with AVHRR onboard EUMETSAT Metop constellation (HLPP-1.1.1)
VIIRS SST processing system included in the Community Satellite Processing Package (CSPP) (HLPP-1.4.4; HLPP-3.2)
SST from VIIRS onboard pre-operational S-NPP is used (or will be used shortly) by major weather agencies (HLPP-2.3)
VIIRS SST product is disseminated via EUMETCAST (HLPP-2.5)
NOAA SST Monitoring system contributes to GSICS (HLPP-1.3)
NOAA Monitoring system is an integral part of the international Group for high Resolution SST (GHRSST) (HLPP-3.3)
VIIRS SST provides SST Error Characterization (HLPP-3.3)
VIIRS SST system runs CRTM in conjunction with first guess fields, to constrain retrievals (HLPP-3.7)
Key issues of relevance to CGMS:

10. Summary
VIIRS SST product of unprecedented coverage and quality is produced at NOAA
The data are distributed via EUMETCAST, and archived in the community consensus archives (PO.DAAC, NCEI)
Data are continuously Monitored and Validated at NOAA
Used in major weather centers including US (NCEP), Canada (Met Centre), UK (Met Office), Japan (Met Agency), and Australia (Bureau of Meteorology)

11. Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites - CGMS
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To be considered by CGMS: