Implications of the oceanic thermal skin temperature deviation at high wind speed

Abstract

Abstract. Extensive oceanographic and atmospheric observations obtained during three independent experiments in the AtlanticOcean are used to demonstrate the relationship between wind speed and the temperature deviation AT, which is defined as the sea surface skin temperature (SSST) minus the subsurface bulk sea surface temperature (BSST). At wind speeds

The measurement of climate change using data from the Advanced Very High Resolution and Along Track Scanning Radiometers

“…There is an offset of 0.47°C between the two seasonal cycles, possibly reflecting differences in the SST retrieval technique used; for example, the AVHRR retrieval is derived from statistical regression against in situ bulk SST data, while those for ATSR are physically based using a radiative transfer model and atmospheric profile data resulting in the retrieval of the skin SST from the ATSR sensors. The skin SST is expected, when averaged, to be consistently lower than the bulk temperature by several tenths of a degree [Donlon et al, 1999], which could indeed account for the AVHRR/ATSR SST differences. Alternatively, the use of daytime data only from AVHRR, in contrast to ATSR where some nighttime data are used, could have introduced a diurnal bias that will be seasonal in nature.…”

Direct observations of skin‐bulk SST variability

“…Skin SST is typically 0.1 -0.5 K cooler than the immediate sub-surface water, although considerable variation in the skin-bulk difference has been observed [e.g. Donlon et al, 1999]. This temperature difference is due to the vertical heat flux through the thermal boundary layer in the top millimeter of the ocean; net surface heat flux is almost always from ocean to atmosphere, resulting in a cool ocean skin.…”

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

“…Since there were not too many wind observations by drifters in this study, the tendency of SSTs on wind speeds might not be robust. However, in spite of the small number of the wind measurements, the general trend were coincident with the previous research (Donlon et al, 1999) on the different response of the skin-bulk SST differences to wind forcings.…”

“…Details about regional dependence on differences between drifter measurements and CTD temperature measurements were depicted in the previous literature (e.g., Donlon et al, 1999;Park et al, 2008).…”

“…By contrast, those errors tended to be slightly increased as wind speeds increased. Donlon et al(1999) characterized the wind dependence in the comparison between satellite SST and shipboard bulk SST measurements. The most positive wind effects on SST were found when wind speeds occurred at the low range of less than 5 m/s (Fig.…”