SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE – A DYNAMIC FIELD: DEVELOPMENTS IN RESEARCH AND OPERATIONS

This paper reviews the key themes in both research and operations of space-based sea surface temperature (SST). The paper reviews the suite of sensors for SST now available, including advances in geostationary coverage and microwave observations. The estimation process is discussed in terms of the screening and retrieval steps. The arguments for a fully Bayesian approach to screening are presented, and the limits to the accuracy of radiative transfer based retrievals briefly outlined. The question of how to combine observations in this data rich period is addressed, looking at merging techniques, and the fact that real geophysical variability in near-surface temperature structure must be properly treated. 1. CURRENT SENSORS FOR SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE The global oceans are less sparsely observed than ever before, and a contributing element of this data rich period is the suite of satellite-based sensors capable of sea surface temperature (SST). In particular, this present year has seen the advent of more complete coverage from infrared sensors on geostationary satellites, and in recent years nearly all-weather retrieval capability from microwave radiometry has been available. The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) [1] has been the “workhorse ” of satellite base