Weak Mesoscale Variability in the Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature (OISST)-AVHRR-Only Version 2 Data before 2007

Mesoscale sea surface temperature (SST) variability triggers mesoscale air-sea interactions and is linked to ocean subsurface mesoscale dynamics. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) daily Optimum Interpolation SST (OISST) products, based on various satellite and in situ SST da...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Remote Sensing
Main Authors: Zhu, Yanan, Li, Yuanlong, Wang, Fan, Lv, Mingkun
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: MDPI 2022
Subjects:
mesoscale eddies
mesoscale air-sea interaction
mesoscale SST anomalies
OISST data
western boundary current
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
Geology
Remote Sensing
Imaging Science & Photographic Technology
Environmental Sciences
Geosciences
Multidisciplinary
SATELLITE-OBSERVATIONS
SOUTHERN-OCEAN
NORTH PACIFIC
GULF-STREAM
EDDIES
KUROSHIO
SUBSURFACE
HEAT
TRANSPORT
DEPENDENCE
Southern Ocean
Pacific
Online Access:http://ir.qdio.ac.cn/handle/337002/178136
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14020409
Description
Summary:Mesoscale sea surface temperature (SST) variability triggers mesoscale air-sea interactions and is linked to ocean subsurface mesoscale dynamics. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) daily Optimum Interpolation SST (OISST) products, based on various satellite and in situ SST data, are widely utilized in the investigation of multi-scale SST variabilities and reconstruction of subsurface and deep-ocean fields. The quality of OISST datasets is subjected to temporal inhomogeneity due to alterations in the merged data. Yet, whether this issue can significantly affect mesoscale SST variability is unknown. The analysis of this study detects an abrupt enhancement of mesoscale SST variability after 2007 in the OISST-AVHRR-only version 2 and version 2.1 datasets (hereafter OI.v2-AVHRR-only and OI.v2.1-AVHRR-only). The contrast is most stark in the subtropical western boundary current (WBC) regions, where the average mesoscale SST variance during 2007-2018 is twofold larger than that during 1993-2006. Further comparisons with other satellite SST datasets (TMI, AMSR-E, and WindSAT) suggest that the OISST-AVHRR-only datasets have severely underestimated mesoscale SST variability before 2007. An evaluation of related documents of the OISST data indicates that this bias is mainly caused by the change of satellite AVHRR instrument in 2007. There are no corresponding changes detected in the associated fields, such as the number and activity of mesoscale eddies or the background SST gradient in these regions, confirming that the underestimation of mesoscale SST variability before 2007 is an artifact. Another OISST product, OI.v2-AVHRR-AMSR, shows a similar abrupt enhancement of mesoscale SST variability in June 2002, when the AMSR-E instrument was incorporated. This issue leaves potential influences on scientific research that utilize the OISST datasets. The composite SST anomalies of mesoscale eddies based on the OI.v2-AVHRR-only data are underestimated by up to 37% before 2007 in the subtropical WBC ...

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