SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE ESTIMATION FROM THE DMSP OPERATIONAL LINESCAN SYSTEM USING A SSM I-DERIVED WATER-VAPOR CORRECTION

Atmospheric correction algorithms for Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS) single channel infrared (IR) estimation of sea surface temperature (SST) have been derived based on Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) water vapor (WV) content retrievals. It is demonstrated that the OLS single IR channel atmospheric correction can be correlated to WV and that the SSM/I-derived correction algorithms provide significant improvement over uncorrected single IR channel SST estimation. Best results are obtained from a correction algorithm that incorporates a quadratic WV term. Use of the quadratic SSM/I-derived WV correction on properly cloud screened OLS IR data produces SST retrievals accurate to within 1.0-degrees-C RMS when compared to moored buoy in situ SST measurements.