Development of scatterometer-derived surface pressures for the Southern Ocean

Abstract

High-resolution, research-quality surface pressures are objectively calculated over the Southern Ocean using winds derived from the Sea Winds scatterometer on the QuikSCAT satellite. The pressure fields are validated in comparison to in situ observations. Overall, the scatterometer-derived surface pressures are a small improvement over the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis, which is used as the objective technique's background field. This improvement is understated primarily because the comparison data undersample storms. Instances are found where the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis misses storms entirely and the scatterometer-derived pressures are a large improvement (as much as 20 hPa).