Accurate sea surface temperature data (SST) are crucial for weather forecasting and climate modeling, but satellite observations are often incomplete. We developed a new method called CRITER, which uses machine learning to fill in the gaps in SST data. Our two-stage approach reconstructs large-scale patterns and refines details. Tested on Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Atlantic sea data, CRITER outperforms current methods, reducing errors by up to 44 %.