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Monitoring Sea Surface Temperature from space

Measuring the sea-surface temperature (SST) across regional and global scales is important for improving weather and ocean forecasting and climate change research.

Satellite measurements provide a consistent and global view of SST at high resolution.

The past, present and future of SST measurements came into focus last month at the 13th Science Team Meeting of the Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST). Held in Tokyo, Japan, the meeting brought together international scientists and space agency representatives that maintain the provision of SST data for science and operational services.

In Europe, ESA started monitoring SST in 1991 with the launch of the first European Remote Sensing satellite, ERS-1. The Envisat satellite, launched in 2002, ensured continuity of SST measurements. The next ESA mission foreseen to continue the dual-view SST dataset is Sentinel-3 (Planned for launch in April 2014), being developed under Europe’s Global Monitoring and Environmental Security (GMES) programme.

Read more at ESA website