Data Types

CoastWatch East Coast Node makes a variety of oceanographic satellite data available to coastal resource managers, scientists, and the general public.

Data Type	Satellite/Instrument	Specifications
Sea Surface Temperature (SST)	AVHRR instrument on NOAA POES & European MetOp satellites (NOAA POES & MetOp-A discontinued in near real-time, MetOp-B in current data only) More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	Daytime and nighttime orbit passes over East Coast region for each satellite Daily, 3-day, 7-day, monthly, seasonal & annual composites (all satellites, day and night combined) 2008 to present 1.25 km spatial resolution
	AVHRR & VIIRS instruments on MetOp, SNPP & NOAA JPSS satellites More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	Nighttime orbit passes over East Coast region for each satellite ACSPO consistent multi-sensor processing Daily, 3-day, 7-day and monthly composites (both sensors all satellites combined, nighttime only) 2020 to present 840 m spatial resolution
	Geo-Polar Blend of all current geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	Cloud-free Daily, night only East Coast, Northeast, Mid-atlantic, and Southeast regions 5 km spatial resolution
	Multi-scale Ultra-high Resolution (MUR) SST from JPL/PODAAC More info Data access: FTP, HTTP, Time Series Tool	Multi-satellite blend Cloud-free Daily East Coast, Northeast, Mid-atlantic, and Southeast regions (and bay and estuarine sub-regions) 1 km spatial resolution
Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a)	MODIS instrument on NASA Aqua satellite More info Data access (NOAA OC3 NIR-SWIR algorithm): FTP	NOAA OC3 NIR-SWIR algorithm for all regions Additional products availble by request (more info): NASA OC3 NIR algorithm processed by NOAA for all regions (except Chesapeake Bay) Region-specific NASA OC3 NIR algorithm for Chesapeake Bay only Once daily 1 km spatial resolution Early afternoon overpass (~1:30 PM)
	OLCI instrument on European Union's Sentinel-3A & Sentinel-3B satellites More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	OC4ME algorithm (4-band modified from MERIS), 1999 MERIS atmospheric correction Mapped swath and daily All East Coast regions 300 m spatial resolution Mid-morning overpass (~10 AM)
	VIIRS instrument on Suomi-NPP satellite More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	OC3V algorithm (3-band modified for VIIRS), BMW atmospheric correction Once daily and 7-day composites All East Coast regions 750 m spatial resolution Early afternoon overpass (~1:30 PM)
Diffuse Light Attenuation at 490 nm (Kd490)	MODIS instrument on NASA Aqua satellite More info Data access (standard algorithm): FTP Data access (NOAA algorithm): FTP	Standard algorithm (GSFC's KD2) for all East Coast regions NOAA algorithm (Wang, 2009) for turbid coastal water combined with GSFC standard algorithm for open-ocean water. Generated for regions: East Coast, Chesapeake Bay, Outer Banks, and South East Coast. Once daily 1 km spatial resolution Early afternoon overpass (~1:30 PM)
	MODIS instrument on NASA Aqua satellite: High-resolution bands More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	NOAA/NOS algorithm for turbid coastal water at high spatial resolution. 1-3 mapped swaths per day All East Coast regions 250 m spatial resolution Early afternoon overpass (~1:30 PM)
	OLCI instrument on European Union's Sentinel-3A & 3B satellites More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	European OLCI M07 Kd490 algorithm Mapped swath and daily All East Coast regions 300 m spatial resolution Mid-morning overpass (~10 AM)
	VIIRS instrument on Suomi-NPP satellite More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	NOAA algorithm (Wang, 2009) for turbid coastal water combined with GSFC standard algorithm for open-ocean water. Once daily and 7-day composites All East Coast regions 750 m spatial resolution Early afternoon overpass (~1:30 PM)
Remote-Sensing Reflectance (Rrs) at Red Wavelengths	MODIS instrument on NASA Aqua satellite More info Data access: FTP	Rrs at 667 nm wavelength All regions except Chesapeake Bay Once daily 1 km spatial resolution Early afternoon overpass (~1:30 PM)
Remote-Sensing Reflectance (Rrs) at Red Wavelengths	VIIRS instrument on Suomi-NPP satellite More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	Rrs at 672 nm wavelength All regions except Chesapeake Bay Once daily 750 m spatial resolution Early afternoon overpass (~1:30 PM)
Total Suspended Matter (TSM)	MODIS instrument on NASA Aqua satellite More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	NOAA algorithm (Ondrusek, 2012) for MODIS Chesapeake Bay only Once daily 250 m spatial resolution Early afternoon overpass (~1:30 PM)
	OLCI instrument on European Union's Sentinel-3A & Sentinel-3B satellites More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	European Space Agency neural net algorithm for OLCI All East Coast regions Mapped swath and daily 300 m spatial resolution Mid-morning overpass (~10 AM)
	VIIRS instrument on Suomi-NPP satellite More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	NOAA algorithm (Ondrusek, 2012) for VIIRS Chesapeake Bay only Once daily and monthly 375 m spatial resolution Early afternoon overpass (~1:30 PM)
True Color	VIIRS instrument on Suomi-NPP satellite More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	Red, green and blue wavelengths All East Coast regions Once daily 750 m spatial resolution Early afternoon overpass (~1:30 PM)

Data Access via direct download of data files and images:

FTP

HTTP

East Coast Node filenaming convention
Sample shell script to download data from http directory tree
Latitude-Longitude file for each region

Data citation: Please acknowledge "NOAA CoastWatch/OceanWatch" when you use data from our site and cite the particular dataset DOI as appropriate.

The NOAA CoastWatch East Coast Regional Node is hosted within the National Ocean Service and the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office.
NOAA is an agency in the Department of Commerce (DOC).

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