GHRSST Level 3U Global Subskin Sea Surface Temperature version7.0.1a from the WindSat Polarimetric Radiometer on the Coriolis satellite

The Remote Sensing Systems (RSS, or REMSS) WindSat products are the only dataset available that uses both the fore and aft look directions. By using both directions, a wider swath and more complicated swath geometry is obtained. RSS providers of these SST data for the Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Project, performs a detailed processing of WindSat instrument data in two stages.

The first stage produces a near-real-time (NRT) product (identified by "rt" within the file name) which is made as available as soon as possible. This is generally within 3 hours of when the data are recorded. Although suitable for many timely uses the NRT products are not intended to be archive quality. "Final" data (currently identified by "v7.0.1a" within the file name) are processed when RSS receives the atmospheric mode NCEP FNL analysis.

The NCEP wind directions are particularly useful for retrieving more accurate SSTs and wind speeds. The final "v7.0.1a" products will continue to accumulate new swaths (half orbits) until the maps are full, generally within 7 days. The version with letter "a" refers to the file incompliance with GHRSST format.