What is the GHRSST-PP ?
The aim of the GHRSST-PP is to provide the best quality sea surface temperature data for applications in short, medium and decadal/climate time scales in the most cost effective and efficient manner through international collaboration and scientific innovation.
The Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) is an international collaboration for ocean forecasting activities which, in 2002, initiated a GODAE High Resolution SST Pilot Project GHRSST-PP to address an emerging need for accurate high resolution sea surface temperature (SST) products. SST is required by operational ocean and atmospheric forecasting systems to constrain the modelled upper ocean circulation thermal structure and for exchange of energy between the ocean and atmosphere.
Today the GHRSST-PP is a truly international project with over $18 Million US invested across all of the project activities. It orchestrates a wide variety of GHRSST-PP data streams input and output data that must be shared, indexed, processed, quality controlled, analysed and documented within an international framework called the Regional/Global Task Sharing (R/GTS) framework. Large volumes of data and data services must be harnessed together to deliver the new generation of global coverage high resolution SST data sets that meet the GHRSST-PP GHRSST-PP User Requirements. A basic 'version-1.0' of the R/GTS framework has been implemented in an internationally distributed manner. GHRSST-PP data products Global and regional coverage SST data products are now produced by GHRSST-PP RDAC Regional Data Assembly Centres RDAC in Australia, Japan, USA and Europe. 
RDAC SST Products are passed in near real time to operational GHRSST-PP GDAC Global Data Assembly Centres (GDAC) where the are integrated together and served to the global application community. GDAC play an essential role in quality control and data management.
Research and development within GHRSST-PP projects continue to tackle the problems of diurnal variability, skin temperature deviations and GHRSST-PP validation/verification validation/verification of GHRSST-PP products. GHRSST-PP data management Data management teams continue to refine the GHRSST-PP data management structures to provide a functional system that conforms to international and federal directives (e.g., ISO, FGDC, INSPIRE). The Long Term Stewardship and Reanalysis Facility (LTSRF) operates routinely at the NOAA National Oceanographic Data Center, ingesting and archiving all GHRSST products on a daily basis in collaboration with the GDAC. The GHRSST-PP International Project Office, jointly funded by the European Space Agency and Met Office, UK, continues to manage the international co-ordination of the project.
Most importantly, an GHRSST-PP international user community has emerged that is now testing and applying GHRSST-PP data products and services within scientific projects and operational systems - all in real time. Over 20GB of data is exchanged within the international project each day! The challenge for the GHRSST-PP version-1 R/GTS and the Science Team that is responsible for its design and implementation is to deliver sustained production of stable, high-quality, SST data products and services and grow the user community. Only a user community can demonstrate a requirement for sustained operations. Once that point is reached, the GHRSST-PP will have achieved its aim.
We hope you enjoy these pages and if you would like to get involved or have any suggestions or comments please GHRSST-PP International project office contact us - we'd love to hear from you.
The SST images at the top this page shows the estimated foundation SST (SSTfnd) at a global resolution of 1/20 degree (~6.5km) derived from over 10Gb of satellite and in situ data by the Met Office OSTIA SST analysis system. OSTIA provides SST data for the Met Office Numerical Weather Prediction system every day and depends on the GHRSST-PP for accurate and timely SST observations in L2P format. The image to the right shows the SST anomaly plot (Reynolds OIv2.0 reference 1985-2001).
(Last Updated: 16-05-2008)