NOAA Coral Reef Watch's heritage, operational satellite coral bleaching heat stress products were produced at 50km-resolution, meaning the data were presented in pixels that are a 50km x 50km square. With the incorporation of additional satellite data streams, this coarse spatial resolution was enhanced to 5km, with the end goal of evetually creating near real-time satellite products at resolutions as fine as 1km or sub-km scales for select regions.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology, a key, long-term NOAA Coral Reef Watch partner, developed an experimental high-resolution (2km) mapping product, called ReefTemp (now ReefTemp Next Generation) that provides information on coral bleaching risk for the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Collaboration to develop products like these helps Coral Reef Watch enhance its own near real-time satellite monitoring for coral reefs globally. Coral Reef Watch products are derived from NOAA's operational sea surface temperature analysis, which blends data from several polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites.