The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the evolution of AVHRR SST algorithms that motivated the current formulation of the Pathfinder SST algorithm, introduced in section 3. One of the AVHRR Oceans Pathfinder highlights is that for the first time a large validation database is distributed with the Pathfinder global SST fields to allow interested investigators to develop and validate alternative formulations for the computation of AVHRR-derived SSTs. This database of "matchups" is described in section 4, together with the procedures followed to estimate Pathfinder SST algorithm coefficients. To give potential users of the Pathfinder SST fields a general feel for the performance of the algorithm, we provide an evaluation of the algorithm perfoi'mance in section 5. Section 6 describes the processing steps involved in the generation of global Pathfinder SST fields. The SST fields may be used for very different purposes, from identifying and tracking specific ocean features to conducting climate-related studies. Such different applications may involve tradeoffs between data coverage and quality (e.g., if finding the Gulf Stream is the goal, one may be more tolerant of lower-quality SST estimates as the 9179

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