A non-regression-coefficients method of sea surface temperature retrieval from space

Abstract For several years now NOAA/NESDIS have derived an operational global sea surface temperature (SST) product from the AVHRR instrument on the NOAA satellites. This is done using the MCSST and CPSST algorithms which contain coefficients that are determined from a regression analysis of satellite data against in situ surface data. The current algorithms are used to provide global SST data without taking into account the latitude, climate or location of the satellite data, although the CPSST coefficients do have a weak dependence on the satellite brightness temperatures. Because of this global application the current SST algorithms have inherent errors due to local climate influences. In this paper a new SST algorithm is developed that does not rely on regression analysis to derive its coefficients. By using the spatial variation of the brightness temperatures in a small area (50 km by 50 km) it is possible to derive the appropriate coefficients to use in the algorithm. The SST field can thus be deriv...

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