File:Global SST Map.png

A graphic of global sea surface temperatures (SST) projected onto a Blue Marble world representation.

From the NNVL: Each day, the ocean absorbs enormous amounts of energy from the sun. This heat is moved through the ocean via large scale circulation processes, fast-moving currents, and small whirling eddies. Not only does the heat stored in the ocean affect its inhabitants, but also greatly influences the atmosphere above, including Earth's weather and climate.

Satellites are able to monitor the temperature of the ocean's surface, also known as Sea Surface Temperature (SST). These measurements are used by meteorologists for weather prediction, fishermen to identify fishing grounds, and navigators to visualize currents.

This image is generated on a daily basis using SST data from a variety of polar-orbiting and geostationary environmental satellites from NOAA and its partners, including GOES, POES, Meteosat, and Metop-A. The data is processed daily and has a spatial resolution of about 11 km/pixel. The colorscale uses blues to show cold waters, red and orange to show hot waters, and yellow and white to show temperate waters. Major currents can be seen as snaking areas of warm or cool waters surrounded by areas of greatly different temperatures. For instance, the Gulf Stream along the U.S. East Coast is much warmer than the surrounding waters.