Validation of multi-channel scanning microwave radiometer on-board Oceansat-I

Sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface wind speed (WS) and columnar water vapour (WV) derived from Multi-frequency Scanning Microwave Radiometer (MSMR) sensor on-board IRS-P4 (Oceansat-I) were validated against the in situ measurements from ship, moored buoy (MB), drifting buoy (DB) and autonomous weather station (AWS). About 1400 satellite in situ match-ups were used for the validation of SST and WS, while only 60 match-ups were available for the validation of WV. Therefore specific humidity, Q(a) was used as a proxy for validating WV. The drifting buoy SSTs showed good correlation with the satellite values (r = 0.84). The correlation of MB SSTs was better during night when the WS varied between 0 and 10 m/s. During the day, correlation peaked for higher wind speeds (> 10 m/s). MB (r > 0.80) was relatively better than AWS (r similar to 0.70) and ship (r < 0.50) for validating satellite-derived WS. Daytime winds exhibited better correlation with satellite values when measured from ocean platforms (MB and ship), but the winds measured from land-based platforms (AWS) were closer to satellite values during night-time. Q(a) values consistently showed higher correlation with satellite values during night-time. The low root mean square deviation (RMSD) of DB SST (1.17degreesC) and MB WS (1.52 m s(-1)) is within the achievable accuracy of the microwave sensor when validated with data collected over the tropical Indian Ocean. The RMSD of Q(a) (1.81 g kg(-1)), however, falls much beyond the attainable accuracy of the microwave sensor.