Datasets from SST CCI and their DOIs

The datasets generated to date by ESA's Climate Change Initiative project for Sea Surface Temperature  are available from the Centre for Environmental Data Archival via the page www.neodc.rl.ac.uk. Possibly it is most useful to go to the dataset pages using the DOIs of the datasets:

For SSTs derived only from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5285/782305d4-1ded-43f9-a0ed-40cb41ff0a43

For SSTs derived only from the Along-Track Scanning Radiometers:

http://dx.doi.org/10.5285/fe7a9d81-cfc0-4023-90da-0be37b803bc7
(This points to v1.0.  V1.1, addressing a few problems in v1.0, will be coming along soon.)

For a gap-filled, daily blend ("SST CCI analysis") of the above datasets (with good feature resolution):

http://dx.doi.org/10.5285/878bef44-d32a-40cd-a02d-49b6286f0ea4

To get data, you need to register just your e-mail address with the data centre. If you try to access data without logging in, you get a page that says "access to the dataset is restricted". This is misleading: there is no restriction on obtaining SST CCI data, you simply need to be logged in to the data centre.

Below is an example day from the SST CCI analysis. This image represents the sea surface temperature (SST) across the global oceans on 5th January, 2010. It is made by blending satellite-derived estimates of SST and filling gaps by an optimal interpolation -- a process referred to as 'analysis'. This SST analysis was created using data from the Along-Track Scanning Radiometers (ATSR) and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers (AVHRR), analysed using the Met Office OSTIA system. 

The particular value of the SST CCI dataset is that it has relatively high feature resolution, refers to a well-defined type of SST (temperature at 20 cm depth, daily average) and, unlike most satellite SSTs, is independent of in situ observations. The full dataset covers 1991 to 2010 and was created in Phase 1 of ESA's SST Climate Change Initiative (SST CCI).