1 Sea Surface Temperature Analyses NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center Asheville, NC Richard W. Reynolds
2 Decadal Global In Situ SST Coverage Maximum: 120 months per decade
3 Extended Reconstruction SST (ERSST) Uses ship and buoy SST data Monthly 2 o gridded fields from 1854 to present Purpose: to monitor climate change
4 Climate SST Contour Intervals: 0, 5,10, 15, 20, 25,28
5 Top: AVHRR Pathfinder Bottom: AMSR-E For AVHRR: Absolute latitudes > 40° have roughly only 5 days of data Number of days increases toward the tropics Drop offs due to cloud cover For AMSR: Absolute latitudes > 40° have more than 20 days of data Drop offs due to precipitation in ITCZ and SPCZ Jan '03: Number of Days with Nighttime Obs 5
6 Magnitude of Gradient: Gulf Stream Daily OI using AMSR-E for January - March 2003 Gradients have a stationary part due to topography –Thus, limited AVHRR data are useful
7 27 August: Katrina –Weak anomaly in Gulf in Path + AMSR-E 28 August: Katrina –Strong anomaly in Path + AMSR-E 29 August: Katrina –Strong anomaly in Path + AMSR-E –Modest anomaly in Path Daily OI SST Anomalies EOT satellite bias correction 7 Left:Pathfinder AVHRR OI Right: Pathfinder AVHRR + AMSR-E OI AVHRR-only OIAMSR+AVHRR OI
8 Daily OI: Products All products on 0.25° spatial grid AVHRR only –AVHRR Daily OI: September 1981 to present AMSR + AVHRR –AMSR + AVHRR Daily OI: June 2002 to present Both products use satellite & in situ data
9 The End