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 More info Data access: FTP	Daytime and nighttime orbit passes over East Coast region for each satellite composited into daily, 3-day, 7-day, monthly, seasonal & annual gridded files (all satellites, day and night combined) 1.25 km spatial resolution January 1, 2008 to June 30, 2024
	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) 840 m spatial resolution December 2006 to present
	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 July 2015 - present
	Multi-scale Ultra-high Resolution (MUR) SST from JPL/PODAAC More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	Multi-satellite blend Cloud-free Daily CONUS region (subset of global MUR) 1 km spatial resolution January 2007 - present
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 August 2014 - October 2022 Additional products availble by request (more info): NASA OC3 NIR algorithm processed by NOAA for all regions (except Chesapeake Bay). February 2013 - October 2022. Region-specific Chesapeake Bay NASA OC3 NIR algorithm (Chesapeake Bay only). January 2009 - October 2022. 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	European algorithm Mapped swath and daily All East Coast regions 300 m spatial resolution Mid-morning overpass (~10 AM) October 2020 - present
	VIIRS instrument on Suomi-NPP or NOAA-20 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) January 2012 - present
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) February 2013 - October 2022 NOAA algorithm (Wang, 2009) for turbid coastal water combined with GSFC standard algorithm for open-ocean water. Once daily 1 km spatial resolution Early afternoon overpass (~1:30 PM) October 2010 - October 2022
	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) July 2016 - September 2024
	OLCI instrument on European Union's Sentinel-3A & 3B satellites More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	European algorithm Mapped swath and daily All East Coast regions 300 m spatial resolution Mid-morning overpass (~10 AM) March 2018 - present
	VIIRS instrument on Suomi-NPP or NOAA-20 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) January 2012 - present
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) February 2013 - October 2022
Remote-Sensing Reflectance (Rrs) at Red Wavelengths	VIIRS instrument on Suomi-NPP or NOAA-20 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) July 2014 - present
Total Suspended Matter (TSM)	MODIS instrument on NASA Aqua satellite More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	NOAA regional algorithm (Ondrusek, 2012) Chesapeake Bay only Once daily 250 m spatial resolution Early afternoon overpass (~1:30 PM) January 2009 - September 2024
	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) October 2020 - present
	VIIRS instrument on Suomi-NPP or NOAA-20 satellite More info Data access: FTP, HTTP	NOAA algorithm (Ondrusek, 2012) applied to VIIRS Chesapeake Bay only Once daily and monthly 375 m spatial resolution Early afternoon overpass (~1:30 PM) June 2020 - present
True Color	VIIRS instrument on Suomi-NPP or NOAA-20 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) July 2014 - present

Data Access via direct download of data files and images:

FTP

HTTP

East Coast Node filenaming convention
Sample code to download data from HTTP directory tree:
BASH script (WGET)
Python Jupyter Notebook or R Markdown
Latitude-Longitude file for each region

Data citation & acknowledgment: When you use our data, please reference the product citation (if available) and acknowledge "NOAA CoastWatch".

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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