We all know that clouds obstruct the satellite cameras view; however there is other less obvious, but very serious problems aside from clouds that are not addressed by most other chart providers and actually appear to be ignored!

These problems include water vapor in the atmosphere, fog on the ground, haze, pollution, and especially, tissue paper thin clouds. We refer to the effects of these more subtle, but very serious problems as “FALSE DATA”

“FALSE DATA” will blend in and obliterate legitimate surface readings and replace them with erroneous readings. Only an experienced person and NOT a computer program can identify false data.

“FALSE DATA” is rampant on products that are mass produced and not inspected such as free sites and low quality fee based cheep SST sites that really should be free.

OCEANTEMP PRE-INSPECTS EACH SATELLITE  PHOTO FOR "FALSE DATA"  THIS IS ONE OF THREE SEPERATE INSPECTIONS USED TO SELECT ONLY THE BEST PHOTOS FOR CHART PRODUCTION.

A graphic example. The photo below contains some good examples of false data. It will illustrate why satellite photos need to be inspected by a professional. Current SST computer processing software simply lacks the ability to discriminate between  the features seen on these photos. Take a look. Can you tell where the fog bank is? Can you tell where clear unobstructed ocean is? Can you tell where the clouds are? Can you tell where the coldest water is?  This is what our competitors hand you!

On the same photo below we have outlined the areas of "false data" so that they can now be identified. The outlined areas contain clouds (upper right), along with a fog bank (lower right) and some light thin clouds (lower center). The remainder of the photo is clear unobstructed ocean. The very dark blue area in the mid-upper left portion is, cool water. The point is that false data will appear almost identical to legitimate surface features and YOU will never know the difference unless we do our job and separate good from bad.

Be advised! We have monitored other fee base SST products over the years and have come to the conclusion that none of the other providers in our price range bother to do ANY type of inspection whatsoever, except for the usual, quick once-over for obvious cloud cover. We even have our doubts about some of the more expensive ones as well.

If some false or corrupt data is found it will be covered up (masked) along with any cloud cover so that there is NO guesswork about what is, or what is not the oceans surface. If there is too much false data or corruption, we will NOT use the photo. Our observations have shown that other providers will!

Clouds, false data and masking, a graphic example. The clouds in the lower part of the photo, marked "A" on the red-orange portion of the Gulf Stream are obvious and easily identified. However, other clouds marked "B" are much less obvious and can easily be confused with completely unobstructed areas of cool water such as is the section of ocean over by "C". B and C are another good example of the confusion that "false data" creates.

On the image below, the clouds and false data have been what we call "masked". We have taken the guesswork and stress out of the chart viewing process. Be advised! Some other providers do, in fact have cloud masking programs,  however those programs can ONLY distinguish specific types of LARGE OBVIOUS CLOUD FORMATIONS, and NOT the subtle false data we are discussing here. A real person performing in-depth pre-analysis of photos is the only way to identify false data. That is what we do!

Lastly, a POST-INSPECTION of each final product is preformed by comparing results with real time buoy data. Again, after seeing what other providers post for their customers, we seriously doubt if any of them do a post comparison of results. The entire pre and post inspection steps take time and money however if we did not do them we would be no different from the freebie and garbage sites.

WE STRONGLY FEEL THAT OUR CUSTOMERS SHOULD NOT HAVE TO START DECIPHERING QUESTIONABLE DETAILS ON CHARTS AND FIGURING OUT WHAT IS, OR WHAT IS NOT, THE OCEANS SURFACE. WE DO, HOWEVER, FEEL, THAT DOING THAT IS OUR JOB! THAT IS WHAT WE GET PAID FOR, AND THAT IS WHAT SETS US APART FROM EVERYONE ELSE!