## 1 Introduction  
The inclusion of satellite data into operational applications has often lagged behind its use in research applications [1]. The first meteorological satellites were launched in the 1960s [2], but it took a decade before data from satellites were routinely used operationally, and several more decades before satellite data were used in numerical weather prediction [1]. Similarly, ocean satellite data have been readily available for decades (Table 1), yet these data resources are still underutilized in many branches of operational oceanography [3; 4]. However, satellite data can be a source of important environmental observations for operational oceanographic applications, given the global coverage and the decades-long timeseries of many satellite measurements [5]. Additionally, satellites are expensive national investments, and the data from them should be utilized to their maximum benefit. In the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), operational management activities that could benefit from satellite data include habitat classification, conservation efforts, and stock assessment (the process of determining the abundance of a fishery stock in response to fishing pressure). The scientists and managers responsible for these activities are typically not experts in acquiring and processing satellite data, which can lead to obstacles in them integrating satellite products in their work [3]. Incorporating ocean satellite products into operational use requires a minimum of three steps: data discovery, access, and utilization. There can be barriers associated with each step. Data discovery is the process of finding the available datasets and determining their appropriate use. This process typically involves a web search to find products and product documentation. Understanding the documentation and determining if a product is useful for an application might involve locating additional web resources and talking with satellite data subject matter experts. This step can be the most time consuming, considering the array of satellite products that are available. For example, the Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) catalog lists over 80 disparate sea surface temperature datasets [6]. After locating desirable products, a user must access the data. Satellite products can be downloaded from a multitude of data providers, including NOAA, National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), European Space Agency (ESA), and European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). These organizations may or may not require a registration step. Furthermore, the data access may be by direct download of data files via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), or through online data servers (e.g., the Thematic Real-time Environmental Distributed Data Services (THREDDS), and the Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP) [7]), each with its own protocols to search, subset, and download data. Utilizing the data might require a different set of software packages, scripts, and libraries to extract the data in a usable form, since the data files can be in a variety of file formats, including Hierarchical Data Format (HDF), Network Common Data Form (netCDF), and older binary and text formats. NOAA's CoastWatch Program ([[https://coastwatch.noaa.gov](https://coastwatch.noaa.gov)]([https://coastwatch.noaa.gov](https://coastwatch.noaa.gov))) is designed to address the issues outlined above [8]. Its mission is to provide easier access to global and regional satellite products. The program is structured with a central office that makes and distributes satellite products, and six regional nodes that develop products and provide services tailored to the needs of their local users.