Submesoscale Sea Surface Temperature Variability from UAV and Satellite Measurements

Earlier studies of spatial variability in sea surface temperature (SST) using ship-based radiometric data suggested that variability at scales smaller than 1 km is significant and affects the perceived uncertainty of satellite-derived SSTs. Here, we compare data from the Ball Experimental Sea Surfac...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Remote sensing (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2017-11, Vol.9 (11), p.1089
Main Authors: Castro, Sandra, Emery, William, Wick, Gary, Tandy, William
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Autonomous underwater vehicles
Energy distribution
Infrared radiometers
MODIS
Ocean surface
Pixels
Remote sensing
Sea surface temperature
Skin temperature
Spatial distribution
spatial variability
Spectra
Spectroradiometers
submesoscale
Surface temperature
Temperature
Temperature effects
Variability
Wavelengths
wavenumber spectra
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Earlier studies of spatial variability in sea surface temperature (SST) using ship-based radiometric data suggested that variability at scales smaller than 1 km is significant and affects the perceived uncertainty of satellite-derived SSTs. Here, we compare data from the Ball Experimental Sea Surface Temperature (BESST) thermal infrared radiometer flown over the Arctic Ocean against coincident Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) measurements to assess the spatial variability of skin SSTs within 1-km pixels. By taking the standard deviation, σ, of the BESST measurements within individual MODIS pixels, we show that significant spatial variability of the skin temperature exists. The distribution of the surface variability measured by BESST shows a peak value of O(0.1) K, with 95% of the pixels showing σ < 0.45 K. Significantly, high-variability pixels are located at density fronts in the marginal ice zone, which are a primary source of submesoscale intermittency near the surface. SST wavenumber spectra indicate a spectral slope of −2, which is consistent with the presence of submesoscale processes at the ocean surface. Furthermore, the BESST wavenumber spectra not only match the energy distribution of MODIS SST spectra at the satellite-resolved wavelengths, they also span the spectral slope of −2 by ~3 decades, from wavelengths of 8 km to
ISSN:2072-4292
2072-4292
DOI:10.3390/rs9111089