NOAA produces CoastWatch MODIS ocean color products in near-real time from global data collected by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). NOAA obtains Level-0 data from NASA GSFC in 5-minute granules. These Level-0 datasets are processed to geolocated, calibrated radiances (Level 1b) and derived MODIS data products (Level 2) using NASA SeaDAS 'msl12' software. These products are then mapped (Level 3) to the CoastWatch geographic regions.

Products generated by NOAA are of operational quality and will likely differ from the same product generated by NASA. Due to the constraint imposed on near-real time generation, NOAA uses ancillary data, predicted ephemerides, and predicted calibration tables. These ancillary data are different than those used in production of the NASA science products, but the resulting products show good agreement with respect to patterns and gradients which are important for operational applications. Additionally, although NOAA strives to implement the most recent, validated versions of MODIS software on its near-real time processing system, it cannot always achieve this objective and may be running a different version than that implemented on NASA's science processing system. Science quality MODIS ocean color products are available from the NASA GES DAAC..