Abstract
As part of the Pathfinder program developed jointly by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) a large database ofin situ sea surface temperature (SST) measurements coincident with satellite data is now available to the user community. The Pathfinder Matchup Database (PMDB) is a multi-year, multi-satellite collection of coincident measurements from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and broadly distributed buoy data (matchups). This database allows the user community to test and validate new SST algorithms to improve the present accuracy of surface temperature measurements from satellites. In this paper we investigate the performance of a global Pathfinder algorithm to specific regional conditions. It is shown that for zenith angles less than 45°, the best-expected statistical discrepancy between satellite and buoy data is about ∼ 0.5 K. In general, the bias of the residuals (satellite — buoy) is negative in most regions, except in the North Atlantic and adjacent seas, where the residuals are always positive. A seasonal signal in SST residuals is observed in all regions and is strongest in the Indian Ocean. The channel-difference term used as a proxy for atmospheric water vapor correction is observed to be unresponsive for columnar water vapor values greater than 45 mm and high zenith angles. This unresponsiveness of the channels leads to underestimation of sea surface temperature from satellites in these conditions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barton I J 1995 Satellite-derived sea surface temperatures: Current status;J. Geophys. Res. 100 8777–8790
Brown J W, Brown O B and Evans R H 1993 Calibration of advanced very high resolution radiometer infrared channels: A new approach to nonlinear correction;J. Geophys. Res. 98 18257–18268
Emery W J, Yu Y, Wick G A, Schluessel P and Reynolds R W 1994 Correcting infrared satellite estimates of sea surface temperature for atmospheric water vapor attenuation;J. Geophys. Res. 99 5219–5236
Esaias W E, Abbott M R, Barton I, Brown O B, Campbell JW, Carder K L, Clark D K, Evans R H, Hoge F E, Gordon HR, Balch W M, Letelier R and Minnett P J 1998 An overview of MODIS capabilities for ocean science observations;IEEE, Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 36(4) 1250–1265
Eyre J R 1987 On systematic errors in satellite sounding products and their climatological mean values;Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 113 279–292
Harries J E, Llewellyn-Jones D T, Minnett P J, Saunders R W and Zavody A M 1983 Observations of sea-surface temperature for climate research;Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London,A309 381–395
Kearns E J, Hanafin J A, Evans R H, Minnett P J and Brown O B 2000 An independent assessment of Pathfinder AVHRR sea surface temperature accuracy using the Marine-Atmosphere Emitted Radiance Interferometer (M-AERI);Bull. Am. Met. Soc. (In press.)
Kilpatrick K, Podesta G and Evans R 2001 Overview of the NOAA/NASA Pathfinder version 4.2 algorithm for sea surface temperature and associated matchup database (submitted to theJournal of Geophysical Research.)
Llewellyn-Jones D T, Minnett P J, Saunders R W and Zavody A M 1984 Satellite Multichannel infrared measurements of sea surface temperature of the N. E. Atlantic Ocean using AVHRR/2;Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 110 613–631
Minnett P J 1986 A numerical study of the effects of anomalous North Atlantic atmospheric conditions on the infrared measurement of sea-surface temperature from space;J. Geophys. Res. 91 8509–8521
Minnett P J 1990 The regional optimization of infrared measurements of sea surface temperature from space;J. Geophys. Res. 95 13,497–13,510
Minnett P J 1995 Sea surface temperature measurements from the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer on ERS-1. InOceanographic applications of remote sensing, (eds) M Ikeda and F Dobson (CRC Press Inc.) 131–143
Reynolds R W 1993 Impact of Mount Pinatubo aerosols on satellite-derived sea surface temperatures;J. Climate. 6(4) 768–774
Reynolds R W and Smith T M 1994 Improved global sea surface temperature analysis using optimum interpolation;J. Clim. 7 929–948
Shenoi S C 1999 On the suitability of global algorithms for the retrieval of SST from the north Indian Ocean using NOAA/AVHRR data;Int. J. Remote Sensing 20 11–29
Strong A E and McClain E P 1984 Improved ocean surface temperatures from space-Comparisons with drifting buoys;Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 85 138–142
Walton C C, Pichel W G, Sapper J F and May D A 1998 The development and operational application of nonlinear algorithms for the measurement of sea surface temperatures with the NOAA polar-orbiting environmental satellites;J. Geophys. Res. 103 27,999–28,012
Wentz F J 1989 User’s manual, SSM/I geophysical tapes. RSS Technical Report 060989. Remote Sensing Systems. Santa Rosa, California. 16pp. (Available from NASA’s JPL PODAAC)
Wick G A, Emery W J, Kantha L H and Schlussel P 1996 The behavior of the bulk-skin sea surface temperature difference under varying wind speed and heat flux;J. Phys. Oceanogr. 26 1969–1988
Zavody A M, Mutlow C T, Llewellyn-Jones D T 1995 A radiative transfer model for sea-surface temperature retrieval for the Along Track Scanning Radiometer;J. Geophys. Res. 100 937–952
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kumar, A., Minnett, P., Podestá, G. et al. Analysis of pathfinder SST algorithm for global and regional conditions. J Earth Syst Sci 109, 395–405 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02708327
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02708327