Which is the Best Predictor of Sea Temperature: Satellite, Model or Data Logger Values? A Case Study from the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Deidun, A.; Gauci, A.; Azzopardi, J.; Cutajar, D., and Drago, A., 2016. Which is the best predictor of sea temperature: satellite, model or data logger values? A case study from the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean) In: Vila-Concejo, A.; Bruce, E.; Kennedy, D.M., and McCarroll, R.J. (eds.), XC Proceedings of the 14th International Coastal Symposium (Sydney, Australia). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 75, pp. 627–631. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Water temperature data loggers were deployed at six different depths along a mooring line within Maltese coastal waters. A one-year timeseries of water column temperature data recorded by the same loggers over the September 2012- September 2013 period were compared, through the computation of Pearson correlation factor values, against satellite measures of the SST and against OPA (Ocean Parallelise) model values for the equivalent water depths. Results indicate that satellite-derived SST values are a good estimate of the ...