Covering the ocean around Africa including the Mediterranean Sea

Cloud cover height and extent; Skin temperature of the water column

The purpose of the CORSA data set is to provide a coherent and quality controlled dataset of SST and cloud cover for the ocean around Africa at a resolution not available from any other source and over longest possible time period. The data set starts in 1982 and is covering the period up to 2000 with processing on-going. All data originates from the AVHRR instrument onboard the NOAA satellites. The amount of individual satellite passes is approximately 20000. The processing of the data comprises firstly a calibration and conversion of raw data into geophysical meaningful units. Secondly a cloud identification procedure is applied and for the cloud free marine areas the SST is calculated. No processing is done over land surfaces. Finally all individual SST images are geometrically rectified and resampled at weekly and monthly resolution. Cloud cover is calculated at a monthly resolution only and only over marine areas. Spatial resolution of the dataset is 4 km. Quality control is carried out by comparing the dataset to other sources of satellite and in-situ measurements.

Joint Research Centre
Space Application Institute Marine Environment Via E. Fermi 2749
ISPRA (VA)

I-21027
Italy