NASA has been investing in a satellite pilot project that is focused on the sargasso sea for data years 2012-2013 with the eventual possibility to expand this project into a real-time global mapping…

NASA has been investing in a satellite pilot project that is focused on the sargasso sea for data years 2012-2013 with the eventual possibility to expand this project into a real-time global mapping system focused on animating and illustrating critical satellite data of oceanographic conditions and important vector data that may inform and relate to the oceanographic conditions. The goal also includes making this critical information available to users through the broader distribution and better management of data including addressing key issues of formatting inter-operability and metadata. The committee on earth observation satellites ceos which is an international group of space agencies has developed this project with NASA as part of ceos ocean variables enabled research and application coverage for the group on earth observations GEO a ministerial level international coordination of earth observing efforts. This specific ocean-oriented pilot project is designed as a joint initiative of ceos GEO goos pogo and godae oceanview called blue planet. The sargasso sea pilot project seeks to build an international freely-available near-real-time 24HR gridded 25KM global data set including SSH SST SSS CHL a wind and currents. IT provides a way to unite the ceos ocean virtual constellations SSH SST wind color around a common project for ceos and blue planet. The coverage pilot project consists of:1. Creation of CO-located ocean products on 25KM daily grids AND2. Development of a visualization tool that provides imagery of entire satellite records with overlay animation and point data upload capabilities.3. Allow for extraction and visualization of data in specific regions. Preliminary analysis shows this type of mapping project is feasible and useful. Recent research shows significant interest in multivariable analyses on common grid. Individual applications using a single variable may be enhanced by availability of other ocean data fish tracking harmful algal bloom forecasts: as an example winds drive ocean currents which transfer heat SST salt salinity and nutrients (CHLOROPHYLL-a) and which in turn may impact the living resources of the ocean. A recent application poll from the group for high resolution sea surface temperature ghrsst webinar showed community need for near-real-time and interdisciplinary science.