1. Why is sea surface temperature so important to offshore fishing?

2. Where does the data for the charts come from?

3. What does SST Online do with the NOAA data it receives and how often are the charts updated?

4. Can I get hard copy charts?

5. What offshore and inshore areas are currently covered by SST Online charts?

6. Why should I join SST Online over one of the other sea surface temperature charting services, including some of the "FREE" sites?

7. If I already belong to another service what benefits will I gain by joining SST Online?

8. How much does it cost to join and what do you get?

9. How do I sign up and become a member?

10. How can I look at sample charts created by SST Online?

11. How can I contact you if I have questions or problems?

1. WHY IS SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE SO IMPORTANT TO OFFSHORE FISHING?

If you are an experienced offshore fisherman, you already know the answer to this question. If not, here's a brief explanation - It's a big ocean out there and offshore fisherman, whether recreational or professional, must choose a particular target area for a particular species on a particular day. Good fisherman use all of the tools available to them to put together a successful game plan. The more tools available and the more experience a fisherman has in using those tools the more successful the fisherman will be in finding fish. Water temperature information is one tool that can be critical in evaluating potential destinations. Professional and serious recreational anglers won't leave the dock without having an idea of where to find good water, and neither should you.

Game fish follow bait and comfortable water temperatures. For various reasons bait congregate at certain "structure". Structure can be the topography of the ocean bottom, a floating weed line, debris or along temperature boundaries which can indicate different water masses that don't easily mix. Each of these structure can cause bait to accumulate and shortly thereafter predators will arrive, whether it be marlin, tuna, dolphin, wahoo, or sharks. By locating the potential for concentrations of bait and the comfortable water temperature range for your target species, you can greatly increase the odds of finding the fish you are after. If you can find a place in the ocean where the above conditions are met, you have the ingredients for a fantastic fishing trip!

2. WHERE DOES THE DATA FOR YOUR OFFSHORE TEMPERATURE CHARTS COME FROM?

All major offshore temperature chart providers use the same raw data supplied by NOAA Polar orbiting satellites 15, 16 and 17 that are equipped with infrared sensing equipment. This data, in conjunction with calibration software, can provide 1 kilometer resolution and accuracy. This data is transmitted back to earth receiving stations in black and white (i.e. 255 color grayscale) and then colorized, calibrated and navigated by various software packages and techniques.

3. WHAT DOES SST ONLINE DO WITH THE NOAA DATA IT RECEIVES AND HOW OFTEN ARE THE CHARTS UPDATED?

The NOAA satellites take 4-6 pictures per day of the areas we are interested in, however they cannot see through clouds and often the images are partially or fully obscured. Also, because of transmission and reception problems, some images are unreadable or incomplete. SST Online looks at each and every picture generated by data supplied by the NOAA satellites and chooses the best and most current available for publication. This process takes place daily between 10:00 pm and midnight of the day before the chart date and insures you will have the most current information prior to your trip offshore. If a significantly better image becomes available during the day the chart will be updated and noted with a letter after the date, i.e. "a", "b", etc.

After choosing the best image available, SST Online uses its own proprietary software to edit the images, zoom into areas most useful to offshore fisherman and manually navigate and overlay lat/long. grids and the 30/50/100/500/ and 1000 fathom curves clearly showing canyon areas. We also include inshore structure, wrecks and other areas of interest to offshore fisherman. This manual navigation of the overlay is what makes our charts so accurate.

If no unobstructed single image is available during a 24 hour period, SST Online uses a proprietary "image merge" process that takes the warmest temperature reading of each unobstructed pixel over several images and combines them in a single image that is usually clear of most obstructions. Often these combined images show evidence of mixing and moving over the multi image period and can be quite informative.

4. CAN I GET HARD COPY CHARTS?

Yes! - you can get SST Online charts on hard copy in a variety of ways. First, if you have a color printer you can simply print our charts right from our website. Each chart web page has a corresponding printer friendly page without background colors or unnecessary graphics, formatted to fit on a single printed page. If you don't have a color printer but have the time and expertise, you can copy the images to a graphics or paint program, draw your own temperature contour lines by outlining the various colors, convert the images to black and white and print them on your laser or dot matrix printer. Some black and white laser printers may  have sufficient resolution to print a useful gray scale image without further editing.

5. WHAT FISHING AREAS ARE CURRENTLY COVERED BY SST ONLINE?

We have concentrated our efforts in the northeast, from Maine to Cape Hatteras. Our five sectional charts cover the canyon and inshore areas and are divided as follows;

NE#1 - Jeffreys Ledge to Crowell Basin - including Platts Bank, Cashes Ledge, Jeffreys Bank, Georges Shoal and inshore waters.

NE#2 - West Atlantis to Lydonia Canyons - including Atlantis, East Atlantis, Veatch, Hydrographer, Oceanographer and inshore waters.

NE#3 - Spencer to Fish Tales Canyons - including the Lindenkohl, Cartaret, Toms, Hudson, The Dip, Block and inshore waters.

NE#4 - Norfolk to Spencer Canyons - including the Washington, Poormans, Baltimore, Wilmington and inshore waters.

NE#5 - The Point to Washington Canyon - including the Norfolk and inshore waters.

Each sectional chart also covers inshore areas including the 50 and 30 fathom lines, other inshore lumps and wrecks. Each chart can be zoomed by a factor of 2x to allow you  to zero in on the areas you are interested in. Each chart also has its own printer friendly page that will allow you to print  our charts without background colors or unnecessary graphics. We also include a Northeast Overview chart covering all of the above areas on one chart showing the "big picture". Members receive unlimited access to all of our charted areas, updated daily. 

6. WHY SHOULD I SUBSCRIBE TO SST ONLINE COMPARED TO OTHER SERVICES THAT OFFER THE SAME INFORMATION?

Reduced cost , unlimited access and ease of use are the three most important reasons to become a member of SST Online. Unlike other sea surface temperature providers, SST Online does not limit you to confusing and expensive package deals which only give you information on certain days of the week or for certain areas of interest. These services often require you to purchase more than one expensive package or to supplement your package with on demand charts costing as much as $50 per chart. Other services require that you purchase and install their software and then download data to be converted by that software. This can be very time consuming and computer intensive. We do the work for you - just log in from any computer in the world and click on the chart that you want to see. With our new interactive scripting, it is easy to generate GPS waypoints with corresponding temperature readings right on the chart. Want a hard copy to take with you? - no problem, just click the printer friendly page and print the chart you want on your color printer. Want to see previous archived charts, just click the month and day in our archive directory for access to the entire season.

By having unlimited, easy access to our current and archived  images you can follow the water temperature trends in the areas you fish most often and watch conditions develop that with other plans you may miss completely or only catch a glimpse of. You don't need any special viewers or software to view our charts or to generate GPS waypoints or read temperatures. Our  information is available to you over the internet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at your convenience. Check it daily as easily as you check your e-mail and get the complete picture of water movement. You'll know when conditions are developing that indicate good fishing and most importantly, you will be able to determine when a favorable condition has been in place for a long period of time, indicating the stable environment necessary for the concentration of bait fish and the arrival of game fish.

SST Online was founded on the notion that there are a great number of fisherman who would like to take advantage of daily sea surface water temperature charts who, for various reasons, do not want to subscribe to one of the expensive services which cater to commercial fisherman, professional captains and owners of luxury sport fishing yachts. SST Online was the first provider to use the technologies available to their fullest which in turn allowed us to keep our prices low to allow every fisherman who goes offshore to have available as one of their "tools" the most up to date sea surface temperature information available anywhere.  The cost of an entire season's subscription to SST Online will be saved in fuel savings very quickly, even if you only make a few offshore trips per year.

Be wary of "free" services and Universities that do not manually navigate the overlays on top of the satellite imagery or provide detailed overlays that you need to plan your trip. Their overlays can be off by as much as 5-10 miles which is unacceptable for offshore fishing and will end up wasting more fuel than they save. You can estimate the accuracy of their  charts by looking at the coast lines of the satellite imagery and the overlays - do they line up exactly? If not, neither do their fathom curves or temperature contours. Why guess when you can have accurate data so inexpensively.

As a further convenience and added benefit, our member page includes links to NOAA offshore forecasts, real time buoy reports, Navy wave height analysis and Navy Gulf Stream analysis, making SST Online your one-stop internet site for offshore fishing.

NEW in 2002  - A Members Only message board, in addition to the public fourm,  that will include useful fishing reports from some of the areas best charter captains - exclusively for the use of SST Online members! 

NEW in 2003 - Access our charts from you internet ready color cell phone, Palm Pilot, Pocket PC or other PDA. Now you can check for the most current charts on the way to the beach, on the way to the boat and even on the way offshore! Click here for details.  Also new for 2003 - member access to archived charts.

NEW in 2004 - Interactive charts that allow you to generate GPS coordinate waypoints with temperature readings, right on your chart, without having to install any other software and without having to download the charts. Everything can be done right from your browser, including zooming and printing on standard 8.5x11 in. paper.

NEW in 2005 - A toll free members telephone number (888)-328-4401 for quick resolution of technical issues or other member services. Also for 2005, the availability of automatic 24/7 email notification when charts are updated.

NEW in 2006 - By popular request, we are going back to our simpler, easy to use, message forum format, both for the public and members only message boards. No more registration requirements or complicated log-in procedures.

7. IF I ALREADY BELONG TO AND ENJOY ONE OF THOSE OTHER SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE PROVIDERS, CAN I STILL BENEFIT FROM BEING AN SST ONLINE MEMBER?

Absolutely! - SST Online will allow you to follow sea surface temperatures daily as routinely as you read the newspaper or check your e-mail, at home, at the office or on the road. Know when conditions are developing that would warrant you taking a closer look at your other service or when you may want to request a specific chart from your other provider. Don't decide to go fishing and then check the temperature charts - follow the charts like you follow the weather and then decide if you want to go fishing. SST Online's cost effective pricing and unlimited access allows you to do just that. You can also use our images to compare to your other provider's charts. Are they as accurate as our color images? Which satellite image is your provider using? Is it the most recent and best available image? Has your provider accurately drawn the temperature contours? Does your provider combine several images to produce a usable chart when a single image is unavailable because of clouds or other obstructions? Can you click with your mouse and get immediate waypoint and temperature information without having to download and install complicated software or download and save each chart you want to use? With SST Online, you can answer all of these questions.

8. HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO BECOME A MEMBER OF SST ONLINE?

This is the best part - for a seasonal fee of only $149.00 you can enjoy all of the benefits of having accurate, daily, and printable sea surface temperature information that will significantly increase your fishing success. Our season runs from 4/15 to 11/15 during which time you will have unlimited access to all of our current charts and archived charts. We challenge you to find a less expensive service that provides the same high resolution imaging, accurate and detailed overlays, user definable waypoints with mouse-over functionality, up-to-the-minute updates, and unlimited access!

9. HOW DO I SIGN UP?

Go to the Members Application page. Follow the instructions for option#1 or option#2.

 With option#1 you will be guided through our secure (Bank of America) credit card processing center. You will choose a username and password that will be validated within hours.

 If you prefer to pay by check or money order, follow option#2 and fill out the application - PRINT IT - and mail it to us with payment. We will validate your user information immediately upon receipt. If you want to fax us your credit card information, we can process your subscription immediately.

10. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE SAMPLE CHARTS.

For best image results, you should have your video graphics adapter set to a resolution of at least 800 x 600 with a minimum 16 bit high color. A 256K color display will simply not be usable. Also, due to the detail, accuracy and resolution of our color images, the image files tend to be fairly large - 60K to 120K for each sectional chart; 150K to 200K for each overview chart. These images can take up to a minute or two to download, depending upon the speed of your modem, computer, ISP (internet service provider) and the amount of traffic currently accessing the site. Be patient, the outstanding detail, resolution and accuracy of our images is worth the wait! To see color image samples, click here.

11. CONTACT INFORMATION.

You can contact us several ways;

email: sstol.info@sstol.com

toll free members hot line: 888-328-4401

telephone: 410-913-7315   fax: 413-487-3089

mail: SST Online, Inc., 1 N. Charles Street, Suite 2300, Baltimore, MD 21201.

If you have any further questions that were not covered above, please contact us and we will answer your questions promptly.

Thank you.

Mike

SST Online, Inc.