Sea Surface Temperature Retrieval from the First Korean Geostationary Satellite COMS Data: Validation and Error Assessment

Hye-Jin Woo,Xiaofeng Li,Eun-Young Lee,Kyung-Ae Park

doi:10.3390/rs10121916

Abstract

Korea’s first geostationary satellite, the “Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite” (COMS), has been operating since 2010. The Meteorological Imager (MI), an sensor on-board the COMS, has observed sea-surface radiances for the estimation of sea surface temperature (SST) in the western Pacific Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean. To derive the SST coefficients of COMS, quality-controlled surface drifting buoy data were collected for the period of April 2011 to March 2015. A collocation procedure between COMS/MI data and the surface drifter data produced a matchup database for 4 years from 2011 to 2015. The coefficients for the COMS/MI SST were derived by applying appropriate algorithms, i.e., the Multi-channel SST (MCSST) and Non-linear SST (NLSST) algorithms, for daytime and nighttime data using a regression method. Validation results suggest the possibility of the continuous use of the coefficients as representative SST coefficients of COMS. The estimated SSTs near the edge of a full disk with high satellite zenith angles over 60° revealed relatively large errors compared to drifter temperatures. Most of NLSST formulations exhibited overestimation of SSTs at low SSTs (<10 °C). This study suggests an approach by which SST can be measured accurately in order to contribute to tracking climate change.

Highlights

Sea surface temperature (SST) is one of the most important variables to understand oceanic and atmospheric phenomena, such as current fronts [1] and west boundary currents [2], air-sea interaction [3,4], and climate change [5,6]
A total number of 284,175 matchups between the COMS/Meteorological Imager (MI) and in situ measurements were obtained from April 2011 to March 2015
The COMS/MI has observed sea-surface radiances that can be used for the estimation of SST

Summary

Introduction

Sea surface temperature (SST) is one of the most important variables to understand oceanic and atmospheric phenomena, such as current fronts [1] and west boundary currents [2], air-sea interaction [3,4], and climate change [5,6]. Infrared sensors onboard near-polar orbiting satellites and geostationary satellites can provide global SST fields at relatively high spatial (polar orbiting) and temporal (geostationary) resolution, which makes possible the frequent tracking of the ocean phenomena and their diurnal variations under clear sky conditions. Geostationary satellites, such as the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) of the National. 2018, 10, 1916; doi:10.3390/rs10121916 www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing Remote FOR PEER REVIEW Remote Sens Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) of European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), a series of Himawari of Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), have shown the capacity for accurate monitoring of high-temporal SST images for oceanic research and operations [7,8,9].

Methods

Results

Conclusion