Accuracy Assessment of Sea Surface Temperature from NOAA/AVHRR Data in the Seas around Korea and Error Characteristics

Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) using the equations of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) / NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service) were validated over the seas around Korea with satellite-tracked drifter data. A total 1,070 of matchups between satellite data and drifter data were acquired for the period of 2009. The mean rms errors of Multi-Channel SSTs (MCSSTs) and Non-Linear SSTs (NLSSTs) were evaluated to, in most of the cases, less than 1 degrees C. However, the errors revealed dependencies on atmospheric and oceanic conditions. For the most part, SSTs were underestimated in winter and spring, whereas overestimated in summer. In addition to the seasonal characteristics, the errors also presented the effect of atmospheric moist that satellite SSTs were estimated considerably low (-1.8 degrees C) under extremely dry condition (T-11 mu m -T-12 mu m< 0.3 degrees C), whereas the tendency was reversed under moist condition. Wind forcings induced that SSTs tended to be higher for daytime data than in-situ measurements but lower for nighttime data, particularly in the range of low wind speeds. These characteristics imply that the validation of satellite SSTs should be continuously conducted for diverse regional applications.