Comparisons of satellite-derived and in situ global sea surface temperature measurements

Attention is given to a series of three workshops held between January 1983 and February 1984 to compare presently available techniques for measuring SST. Measurements from SST from four satellite sensors were evaluated by direct comparison with one another and with measurements from ships, expendible bathythermographs, and buoys. The satellite data showed good agreement in a global rms sense (about 0.5-1.0 C), but several anomalous regional biases were observed. The biases are ascribed in some cases to instrument calibration deficiencies. In other cases, inadequacies of the retrieval algorithms are suspected to be the case. Suggestions for improving sensors and retrieval methods are discussed.