Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly
(Polar Orbiting Satellite SST Experimental Products)

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    • Description

    NOAA has been producing sea surface temperatures [SSTs] from satellite data since 1972.  Beginning in 1982, multi-channel infrared data became available to provide more accurate SSTs making it possible to correct for the intervening atmosphere -- multi-channel SSTs [MCSSTs] were born!  In-situ SSTs, from buoys [drifting and moored] are used operationally to maintain accuracy -- removing any biases, and compiling statistics with time(1,2,3).

    Beginning in mid-1996, a new satellite-only climatology [1984-1993] became available making it possible to generate Experimental SST Anomalies from the 50-km daily field that is produced from MCSST data operationally.  These anomalies are being displayed experimentally by our operational colleagues in OSDPD for your examination and comments. These anomalies are somewhat less reliable at high latitude where a limited amount of satellite data were available for the computation of monthly climatologies due to more persistent cloud.

    The 50-km climatology was primarily developed as a step toward producing our new Coral Reef HotSpot Charts.

    The Experimental SST Anomaly charts are useful in assessing ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) development, monitoring hurricane "wake" cooling, and even major shifts in coastal upwelling.

    A coral reef team of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) generates these coral reef bleaching monitoring products. The team comprises scientists from the Marine Applications Science Team (MAST) in Oceanic Research and Applications Division (ORAD) of Office of research and Applications (ORA) and from the Product Systems Branch (PSB) of the Information Processing Division (IPD) of the Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution (OSDPD) within NESDIS.

    References

    (1) McClain, E.P. et al., 1985: Comparative performance of AVHRR-based multi-channel sea surface temperatures; J. Geophys. Res. 90, 11,587.

    (2) Strong, A.E., 1991: Sea surface temperature signals from space. In: Encyclopedia of Earth System Science, Ed. W.A. Nierenberg, Vol 4, Academic Press, San Diego, CA, pp 69-80.

    (3) Strong, A. E., E. Kearns and Gjovig, K. K., 2000: Sea Surface Temperature Signals from Satellites - An Update. Geophys. Res. Lett, 27(11): 1667-1670 (June 1, 2000).


    For more information about satellite coral bleaching studies, please contact
    coralreefwatch@noaa.gov

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