A comparison of satellite and in situ-based sea surface temperature climatologies

Abstract

A satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) climatology based on Pathfinder Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data is evaluated using two long-term observational collections of in situ SST measurements: the 1994 World Ocean Atlas (WOA94) and the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS). Using the statistical comparison method, the performance of this 'Pathfinder + erosion' climatology is compared with the performance of the WOA94 1° in situ climatology, the Reynolds satellite and in situ blended 1° analysis, version 2.2 of the blended 1° Global Sea-Ice and Sea Surface Temperature (GISST) climatology, and the in situ 5° Global Ocean Surface Temperature Atlas (GOSTA). Overall, the Pathfinder + erosion climatology yields lower anomaly variances in the mid- and high latitudes and the Southern Hemisphere, but larger variances than the 1° climatologies in the warm, Northern Hemisphere low-latitude regions.