NOAA CoastWatch/OceanWatch/PolarWatch: Connecting users and applications with JPSS ocean and coastal satellite data products and services.

Abstract:

The NOAA CoastWatch/OceanWatch/PolarWatch program (hereafter “CoastWatch”) provides easy access to global and regional satellite data products for use in understanding, managing and protecting ocean and coastal resources and for assessing impacts of environmental change in ecosystems, weather, and climate and educates and trains people to use them in research and applications that lead to decisions. CoastWatch traces its origin story dating back to over 30 years ago when satellite sea surface temperature was used to explain an unprecedented harmful algal bloom along the North Carolina coast. The CoastWatch user community includes NOAA line offices (the weather, fisheries, ocean and satellite and data Services, and the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research office), government organizations outside of NOAA in the US and internationally, non-governmental organizations, commercial entities and academic researchers. Through a number of approaches, CoastWatch serves as a conduit between the ocean satellite science teams in NOAA who produce the basic earth observation parameters (e.g., sea surface temperature, ocean color/chlorophyll concentrations, sea surface height, ocean surface vector winds, surface roughness, sea ice) from satellite missions such as the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) and downstream users who want to incorporate satellite remote sensing observations into their applications or research. These approaches at CoastWatch range from full engagement as co-investigators on a research or development project to teaching hands-on, satellite data training courses, to creating value-added products for users such as geographically mapped and temporally composited data (e.g., “level 3”) to providing anonymous access to ocean satellite data files through our website, to providing a platform for users to visually explore and compare data interactively, without necessarily needing to download files. The CoastWatch Data Portal (figure 1), funded primarily through the JPSS Proving Ground Risk Reduction program, is an online tool that facilitates the discovery, viewing, comparison and utilization of satellite ocean remote sensing data products and associated model outputs. We will demonstrate how to explore, sub-sample and ultimately download data files of interest.