The latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) have facilitated significant improvements in the ability to measure sea surface temperature (SST) from geostationary satellites. Nonetheless, difficulties associated with sensor calibration and oceanic near-surface temperature gradients affect the accuracy of the measurements and the estimation and interpretion of the diurnal cycle of the bulk SST. Overall, measurements of SST from the GOES imagers on the GOES-8–10 satellites are shown to have very small bias (<0.02 K) and rms differences of between 0.6 and 0.9 K relative to buoy observations. Separate consideration of individual measurement times, however, demonstrates systematic bias variations of over 0.6 K with measurement hour. These bias variations significantly affect both the amplitude and shape of estimates of the diurnal SST cycle. Modeled estimates of the temperature difference across the oceanic cool skin and diurnal thermocline show that bias variations up to 0.3 K ... Abstract The latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) have facilitated significant improvements in the ability to measure sea surface temperature (SST) from geostationary satellites. Nonetheless, difficulties associated with sensor calibration and oceanic near-surface temperature gradients affect the accuracy of the measurements and the estimation and interpretion of the diurnal cycle of the bulk SST. Overall, measurements of SST from the GOES imagers on the GOES-8–10 satellites are shown to have very small bias (<0.02 K) and rms differences of between 0.6 and 0.9 K relative to buoy observations. Separate consideration of individual measurement times, however, demonstrates systematic bias variations of over 0.6 K with measurement hour. These bias variations significantly affect both the amplitude and shape of estimates of the diurnal SST cycle. Modeled estimates of the temperature difference across the oceanic cool skin and diurnal thermocline show that bias variations up to 0.3 K ...

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 <0.08 km.

The oceanic near-surface temperature profile must be accurately characterized to enable precise determination of air–sea heat exchange and satellite retrievals of sea surface temperature. An improved solar transmission parameterization is integrated into existing models for the oceanic warm layer and cool skin within the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE) bulk flux model to improve the accuracy of predictions of the temperature profile and corresponding heat flux components. Application of the revised bulk flux model to data from 12 diverse cruises demonstrates that the improved parameterization results in significant changes to the predicted cool-skin effect and latent heat fluxes at low wind speeds with high solar radiation due to reduced absorption of solar radiation just below the surface. Daytime skin-layer cooling is predicted to increase by 0.03 K on average but by more than 0.25 K for winds below 1 m s−1 and surface irradiance exceeding 900 W m−2. Predicted changes to the warm-layer correction were smaller but exceeded 0.1 K below 1 m s−1. Average latent and sensible heat fluxes changed by 1 W m−2, but the latent flux decreased by 5 W m−2 near winds of 0.5 m s−1 and surface irradiance of 950 W m−2. Comparison with direct observations of skin-layer cooling demonstrated, in particular, that use of the improved solar transmission model resulted in the reduction of previous systematic overestimates of diurnal skin-layer warming. Similar results can be achieved using a simplified treatment of solar absorption with an appropriate estimate of the fraction of incident solar radiation absorbed within the skin layer.

A new remotely controlled Airborne Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (AVAPS) dropsonde system has been developed for and deployed on the NASA Global Hawk (GH) unmanned aircraft. Design, fabrication, and operation of the system was led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) with support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program. The system has employed the NCAR Research Dropsonde 94 (NRD94) dropsonde, a smaller and lighter version of the standard RD94 dropsonde deployed from manned aircraft but with virtually identical sensors. The dropsondes provide in situ atmospheric profiles of temperature, pressure, and humidity at a 2-Hz data rate, and wind speed and direction at 4 Hz. The system is capable of carrying up to 90 dropsondes and can support eight simultaneous soundings. Operation from the GH means that the dropsondes can be deployed from altitudes up to 19.8 km during flights in excess of 24-h duration. The dropsonde launch is commanded directly by an operator on the ground in coordination with the aircraft commander. Over 2700 total dropsondes have been deployed from the GH during four major campaigns since 2011. Data are processed in near–real time and have been employed by forecasters, for assimilation in numerical weather prediction models, and in diverse research studies. Intercomparison studies suggest the performance of the GH NRD94 dropsondes is similar to those deployed from manned aircraft. This paper describes the components and operation of the system and illustrates its unique capabilities through highlights of data application to research on the Arctic atmosphere, atmospheric rivers, and tropical cyclones.