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The Nimbus 3 and 4 Iris spectral data in the 11‐ to 13‐μm water vapor window region are analyzed to determine the sea surface temperature (SST). The high spectral resolution data of Iris are averaged over approximately 1‐μm‐wide intervals to simulate channels of a radiometer to measure the SST. In the present exploratory study, three such channels in the 775‐ to 960‐cm−1 (12.9–10.5 μm) region are utilized to measure the SST over cloud‐free oceans. However, two of these channels are sufficient in routine SST determination. The differential absorption properties of water vapor in the two channels enable one to determine the water vapor absorption correction without detailed knowledge of the vertical profiles of temperature and water vapor. The feasibility of determining the SST is demonstrated globally with Nimbus 3 data, where cloud‐free areas can be selected with the help of albedo data from the medium resolution infrared radiometer experiment on board the same satellite. The SST derived from this technique agrees with the measurements made by ships to about 1°C.

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