EO:EUM:DAT:1096

SLSTR Level 2 Ice Surface Temperature - Sentinel-3

The Copernicus Sentinel-3 SLSTR Level-2 Ice Surface Temperature (IST) product extends the existing marine SST portfolio to the cryosphere by providing surface skin temperature over sea-ice and water poleward of 50° latitude in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, in both Near Real Time (NRT, < 3 hours) and Non Time Critical (NTC, <30 days) timeliness as ~3 min granules. Ice surface temperature is one of a key climate variables that influences energy exchange between the surface and atmosphere, sea-ice growth and melt processes, and the monitoring of polar climate change. Key features include two complementary retrieval algorithms: a nadir-only split-window retrieval and a dual-view single-channel retrieval, distributed in separate NetCDF files. A unified surface temperature field combines SST, IST, or a weighted mixture depending on surface type. Cloud screening is based on the EUMETSAT NWC SAF Polar Platform System (PPS) cloud products, while auxiliary sea-ice concentration data support surface classification into ocean, ice, and mixed pixels. The product provides per-pixel quality levels, total and component uncertainties, and GHRSST-compliant metadata and file formats. Validation against Polar weather stations and airborne observations demonstrates that quality levels 4 and 5 meet the GCOS target accuracy requirement of 3 K, with typical daytime bias and standard deviation below 2 K for both retrieval algorithms. The product is generated using the SLSTR SST/IST Instrument Processing Facility (IPF) v07.00 and establishes an operational capability for monitoring surface temperature across both polar oceans and sea-ice regions, supporting climate monitoring, numerical weather prediction, sea-ice modelling, and operational polar applications.

Satellite: Sentinel-3

Instrument: SLSTR

Temporal Extent: 2026-06-11 - now

Orbit Type: LEO

Data Policy: Copernicus

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