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Image courtesy Remote Sensing Systems / NASA

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February 05, 2003 - (date of web publication)

Global optimum-interpolated microwave SSTs from the AMSR-E onboard NASA’s EOS-AQUA satellite

Chelle Gentemann and Frank WentzRemote Sensing Systems

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NASA launched the Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua spacecraft on May 4, 2002. One of the instruments onboard is NASDA's Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for theEarth Observing System (AMSR-E), the first polar orbiting microwave radiometer capable of measuring accurate global through-cloud sea surface temperatures (SST).

Scientists at Remote Sensing Systems, funded by NASA, have calculated a high-resolution, daily, optimally interpolated (OI)-SST product useful to numerical weather prediction and research activities in which a complete, daily SST map is more useful than one with missing data due to orbital gaps or environmental conditions precluding SST retrieval. Optimum interpolation is a widely utilized method in oceanography and meteorology that makes use of the statistical properties of irregularly spaced data to interpolate onto a regularly sampled (in time and space) grid. The satellite data incorporated into the OI-SST must be carefully studied and processed. For example, incident solar radiation can heat the ocean surface by up to 4 C. Therefore, before interpolation, we must model and remove the diurnal warming of the sea surface from the daytime SSTs. By completing this process, RSS can optimally utilize both the daytime and nighttime retrievals in calculation of the daily SST product. We are also currently working on methods to incorporate SST measurements made by instruments on other satellites, such as NASA's TRMM and Terra satellites.

NASA's GSFC is now using this new microwave OI-SST product to monitor the developing El Niño in the Pacific Ocean. We also expect this OI-SST product to be especially useful during the upcoming hurricane season. MODIS or AVHRR (infrared radiometers) cannot see through the cloud cover to measure the SST, which is capable of influencing storm intensity. The through-cloud capabilities of the microwave SSTs provide a valuable picture of the ocean temperatures in front of the storm path. For more information on microwave SSTs visit www.remss.com.

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