<p>The issue with satellite <a href="http://www2.hawaii.edu/%7Ejmaurer/sst" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SST</a> is that in most cases it is captured via infrared radiometers. Those sensors can't see through clouds. Daily products are used to try to remove the cloud effects. Alternatively, passive microwave radiation can be used (e.g., TMI, AMSR2, AMSR-E). <a href="http://remss.com/measurements/sea-surface-temperature" rel="nofollow noreferrer">It is not affected by cloud cover, but has lower horizontal resolution</a> (~25km, vs 1-5km from IR).  You can try to get the individual passes of each satellite and deal with gaps: <a href="https://images.remss.com/amsr/amsr2_data_daily.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">For instance</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-24T00:48:16.030Z
Thanks arkaia, for pointing this out. Now I know this inherent shortage for satellite retrieval of SST, another question is that why the numerical model (e.g. ECMWF, NCEP, ...) output don't involve four-times daily SST, while other factors, like relative humidity, they have hourly output. I searched for ERA-5 SST, which has same hourly data, but no diurnal variations.
D.Zhang
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-23T17:38:58.200Z
2020-11-23T17:38:58.200Z
arkaia
<p>Now I am working on a Tropical Cyclone project, and want to figure out the SST status when a TC passes by. I've been searching for SST products, yet there only show up to daily SST. My question is does there exist four-times daily SST, and if no, why is that?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-24T22:13:14.510Z
Does SST change that much during the course of a day?  (Maybe that's better as a separate question)
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-24T23:55:54.943Z
Which sst do you want? Skin sst or sst$_{skin}$, foundation sst or sst$_{found}$, interface sst or sst$_{int}$, or sst at depth. Most reanalysis models produce foundation sst, sst with no diurnal variation, the temperature at the first time of the day when the heat gain from the solar radiation absorption exceeds the heat loss at the sea surface.
Gemechu Fanta Garuma
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-25T00:47:23.230Z
@GemechuFantaGaruma Thanks you for such a thorough explanation, I think what I'm looking for is SKIN SST, while I'm also searching for the ocean heat content product, which better represents the thermodynamic conditions in-depth for a TC overpass.
D.Zhang
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-25T01:07:09.603Z
@JeopardyTempest Yeah, that could be a whole new question. According to Yoshimi Kawai & Akiyoshi Wada in their paper, they indicated that "...in an extreme case the diurnal amplitude of SST exceeds 5 K...temporal mean of the increase exceeds 10 Wm−2.". I guess the SST diurnal variations matter in finer NWP models. The initial thought for me is to better quantify the conditions at a certain time like in the hurricane forecast (I'm not a model user), now I guess the hurricane model would give SST condition when TC overpassed. I would revise my research thought.
D.Zhang
<oceanography><tropical-cyclone>
Are there four-times daily sea surface temperature (SST) data product for Tropical Cyclone research?
D.Zhang
# Are there four-times daily sea surface temperature (SST) data product for Tropical Cyclone research?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-11-23)

Now I am working on a Tropical Cyclone project, and want to figure out the SST status when a TC passes by. I've been searching for SST products, yet there only show up to daily SST. My question is does there exist four-times daily SST, and if no, why is that?

**Tags:** oceanography, tropical-cyclone

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Does SST change that much during the course of a day?  (Maybe that's better as a separate question)  
> **username_2**: Which sst do you want? Skin sst or sst$_{skin}$, foundation sst or sst$_{found}$, interface sst or sst$_{int}$, or sst at depth. Most reanalysis models produce foundation sst, sst with no diurnal variation, the temperature at the first time of the day when the heat gain from the solar radiation absorption exceeds the heat loss at the sea surface.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 Thanks you for such a thorough explanation, I think what I'm looking for is SKIN SST, while I'm also searching for the ocean heat content product, which better represents the thermodynamic conditions in-depth for a TC overpass.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Yeah, that could be a whole new question. According to Yoshimi Kawai & Akiyoshi Wada in their paper, they indicated that "...in an extreme case the diurnal amplitude of SST exceeds 5 K...temporal mean of the increase exceeds 10 Wm−2.". I guess the SST diurnal variations matter in finer NWP models. The initial thought for me is to better quantify the conditions at a certain time like in the hurricane forecast (I'm not a model user), now I guess the hurricane model would give SST condition when TC overpassed. I would revise my research thought.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-11-23. Score: 1

The issue with satellite [SST](http://www2.hawaii.edu/%7Ejmaurer/sst) is that in most cases it is captured via infrared radiometers. Those sensors can't see through clouds. Daily products are used to try to remove the cloud effects. Alternatively, passive microwave radiation can be used (e.g., TMI, AMSR2, AMSR-E). [It is not affected by cloud cover, but has lower horizontal resolution](http://remss.com/measurements/sea-surface-temperature) (~25km, vs 1-5km from IR). You can try to get the individual passes of each satellite and deal with gaps: [For instance](https://images.remss.com/amsr/amsr2_data_daily.html)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks username_3, for pointing this out. Now I know this inherent shortage for satellite retrieval of SST, another question is that why the numerical model (e.g. ECMWF, NCEP, ...) output don't involve four-times daily SST, while other factors, like relative humidity, they have hourly output. I searched for ERA-5 SST, which has same hourly data, but no diurnal variations.  

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