Comparison of Sentinel-3a/SLSTR derived SST with MAERI Measurements

Bingkun Luo1, Peter J Minnett2, Goshka Szczodrak2, Katherine Ann Kilpatrick3 and Miguel Izaguirre2, (1)University of Miami, RSMAS, Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, Miami, FL, United States, (2)University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, Department of Ocean Sciences, Miami, United States, (3)University of Miami, RSMAS, Department of Ocean Sciences, Miami, FL, United States
Abstract:
The Skin Sea Surface Temperature (SSTskin) derived from satellite measurements and models is one of the key factors for studying ocean-atmosphere interactions for climate prediction and ocean modeling research. SENTINEL-3a ad 3b are a pair of a European Earth Observation satellite missions developed to support ocean, land, atmospheric applications. Each satellite carries a Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR). We compare SSTskin derived from measurements of the SLSTR on board the Sentinel-3a satellite with independent measurements of Marine-Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometers (M-AERIs) deployed on ships during the Aerosols and Ocean Science Expeditions (AEROSE) cruises. The comparison results reveal a small average difference of ~0.06K and median difference of 0.005K between SLSTR and M-AERI. This research indicates some improvements to the algorithms to derive SSTskin from measurements of the SLSTR.