Supporting Satellite Research With Data Collected by Vessels

摘要

Meteorological observations made over the oceans using Earth-orbiting satellites provide a wealth of environmental data to support the operational weather and ocean forecasting and research communities. Satellites routinely measure sea surface temperature and winds and recently have been used to estimate air temperature and humidity near the ocean surface. Each of these parameters is derived using complex retrieval algorithms that convert estimates of emitted or reflected radiance into the physical parameters desired by the meteorological and oceanographic stakeholders. Such retrieval algorithms are routinely tested and validated using ground-truth measurements. Typical sources include observations from vessels, drifting buoys and moorings.