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Random Quote: If you try to make it idiot-proof, some one will just come up with a better idiot!
What sea water temperatur services should I consider? Roffer's is too expensive while Hiltons seems fair if reliable and useable. Any others I should look into for off the central east coast of Florida and northern Abacos?
Howdy,
Sea surface temperatures are really just one part of the equation, and in my opinion, not the most important part. If I had to go fishing with just one piece of info, I would choose the Altimetry imagery. Sea suface temps, water color, and altimetry all play a role in showing where the fish will be located on any given day.
All the best,
Tom Hilton
Thanks, I appreciate everyones interest. The Ocean Temp seems nice and has a good price but is unavailable for my area until next season. I don't mind having other information if it will help me out but the precise location of temerature changes is important to me. Kowing in advance where the eastern edge of the stream is can save me time or a trip and fuel as well as showing me any eddies.
Agree Ocean temp is not all reliable ("no image due to area cloud cover"). I would recommend the free Rutger for over view and on those days you are really going to run get the one shot Roeff's. Worth the money given the expense invested.
Howdy,
Sea surface temperatures are really just one part of the equation, and in my opinion, not the most important part. If I had to go fishing with just one piece of info, I would choose the Altimetry imagery. Sea suface temps, water color, and altimetry all play a role in showing where the fish will be located on any given day.
All the best,
Tom Hilton
Still not gettin altimetry.... Can you please 'splain for us non scientists?
How altimetry works
Altimetry principle
From radar altimeter to altimeter range (satellite-to-ocean range R)
Radar altimeters on board the satellite permanently transmit signals at high frequency (over 1700 pulses per second) to Earth, and receive the echo from the sea surface. This is analysed to derive a precise measurement of the round-trip time between the satellite and the sea surface. The time measurement, scaled by the speed of light (at which electromagnetic waves travel), yields a range measurement. By averaging the estimates over a second, this produces a very accurate measurement of the satellite-to-ocean range.
However, as electromagnetic waves travel through the atmosphere, they can be decelerated by water vapour or by ionisation. Once these phenomena are corrected for, the final range R is estimated within 2 cm.
The ultimate aim is to measure sea level relative to a terrestrial reference frame. This requires independent measurements of the satellite orbital trajectory, i.e. exact latitude, longitude and altitude coordinates.
(Had a pic to attch with this, no pics in the free forums?)
Take a good look at www.Terrafin.com . It doesn't break the bank, and I regardless of where I fish. I know the owner, Jeff Gammon, great guy with a good product. Let him I sent you.
Capt Mike Fisher
Agree Ocean temp is not all reliable ("no image due to area cloud cover"). I would recommend the free Rutger for over view and on those days you are really going to run get the one shot Roeff's. Worth the money given the expense invested.
If there's "no image due to area cloud cover", it means exactly that. Now why would you think any other service will have an image that is usable? Think they have "special equipment" that removes the cloud? LOL
Sorry LOL, not flaming, lol, just trying to make a point.
If it is cloudy, then the image would be useless on ANY site, and many other sites still show an image on the cloudy passes. Sometimes they post an older image and date/time stamp it as if it is new, sometimes they may show an image that is so badly interpolated that it is useless data anyway. But it makes it look like they are reliable and always have the best and up to date info.
At least these guys (oceantemp) are honest when it's cloudy
And then sometimes it is light cloudcover, and they will interpolate the data, but you'll get an email alerting you that it WAS interpolated and may not be as accurate as normal. I appreciate their honesty about the images, and also appreciate that they send out emails constantly keeping you updated on the images, new "passes" and their quality
__________________ 1974 Formula F-233-C
Original Mercruiser Ford 302/TR Outdrive
Howdy,
Just a note to agree with what 74Formula233 just said. Many services "process" the imagery to make it look better, using older data to fill in the gaps.
Our sea surface temp images are "WYSIWYG" (what you see is what you get). Where there are clouds, there is no data, but we offer you between 3 to 7 images per day, thus increasing the chance the the particular area that you're interested in will have a clear shot. In addition, we enable you to "optimize" the imagery to your specs. When the sea surface image is opened, the colors/temps are based on a default temp range setting based on the whole region. You are not interested in the whole region, but a small part of it, say the area surrounding a wreck that you want to go to. Look at the colors and related temps, insert your new maximum/minimum temp range settings, and hit "Get SST List". The computer then goes in and "repaints" all of the SST images based on your new temp range. This is a really powerful tool that you have at your fingertips, allowing you to optimize the imagery to find subtle temp breaks, etc.
Since the image is geo-referenced, you can pinpoint the exact position of that temp break...printout and take with you on the boat.
A gentleman from Texas that I email once in a while sent me your site link and I was checking it out.....
Looks like a good service in that area.....
But I don't remember, is the image linked to Lat/Lon coordinates? That's one feature I do like onthe oceantemp site. I understand of course that it is not as accurate as GPS LOL but it easily gets you to the spot you want, or damn near close enough to find the break on your fishfinder. When you have the image up on your screen (you use their program that you download for free), the coordinates show up actively at the bottom corner as you move your pointer around.
Very usefell tool....again, I don't remember if you offer it, but it is a nice bonus
__________________ 1974 Formula F-233-C
Original Mercruiser Ford 302/TR Outdrive
I went ahead and signed up for the Hilton service. I have been fiddling with it a little and it seems that it will help me out and save fuel also. Thanks for everyones input.
74Formula233,
Yes, all of our imageries are geo-referenced.
I was trying to post two sea surface temp images taken about 3 hours ago off Cape hatteras but can't figure out how to post them. The 2 images are of the same shot, except that I have altered the temp range on one to optimize it.
All the best,
Tom Hilton
__________________ Get the Edge - Realtime-Navigator.com
THE WEB'S FINEST ONLINE MAP SERVER
Sea water temperature services? 
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