Comparison of VIIRS SST fields obtained from differing SST equations applied to a region covering the Northern Gulf of Mexico and Western North Atlantic

摘要

Several groups produce Sea Surface Temperature (SST) retrievals derived from data acquired by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor on-board the S-NPP satellite. Because of varying requirements or history, the groups often use differing SST equations to make their SST retrievals. Here we compare and discuss the equations through an examination of the SST fields. In most cases, the fields are created using the same program but differing equations, while in other cases, such as for the Interface Data Processing Segment (IDPS) Environmental Data Records (EDR), the SST fields are directly produced by other groups. Also discussed is the effect of the equation coefficients because independent groups may use the same equation but with different coefficients The focus of this study is on a region covering the Northern Gulf of Mexico and part of the Western North Atlantic. The comparison to buoys tries to minimize the effect of data contamination such as clouds on the results by matching the best satellite derived SST value in a neighborhood to the value from drifting or moored buoys. Finally we look at the overlap between consecutive passes to evaluate how the various equations perform at higher satellite zenith angles.