Observations of SST diurnal variability in the South China Sea

Qianguang Tu; Delu Pan; Zengzhou Hao; Jianyu Chen

doi:10.1117/12.2194476

14 October 2015 Observations of SST diurnal variability in the South China Sea

Qianguang Tu, Delu Pan, Zengzhou Hao, Jianyu Chen

Proceedings Volume 9638, Remote Sensing of the Ocean, Sea Ice, Coastal Waters, and Large Water Regions 2015; 96380O (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2194476
Event: SPIE Remote Sensing, 2015, Toulouse, France

Abstract

In this study, a 3-hourly time resolution gap free sea surface temperature (SST) analysis is generated to resolve the diurnal cycle in the South China Sea (SCS, 0°–25°N, 100°–125°E).It takes advantage of hourly geostationary satellite MTSAT observations and combines three infrared and two microwave polar satellite observations at different local times. First, all the data are classified into eight SST datasets at 3 hour intervals and then remapped to 0.05°resolution grids. A series of critical quality control is done to remove the outliers.Then bias adjustment is applied to the polar satellite observations with reference to the MTSAT data. Finally, the six satellites SST data are blended by using the optimal interpolated algorithm. The 3-hourly blended SST is compared against buoy measurements. It shows a good agreement that the biases do not exceed 0.2 °C and root mean square errors range from 0.5 to 0.65 °C. A typical diurnal cycle similar to sine wave is observed. The minimum SST occurs at around 0600h and warming peak occurring between 1300h and 1500h local solar time and then decrease in the late afternoon, tapering off at night on March 13, 2008 for example. The frequency of diurnal warming events derived from four years of the blended SST provides solid statistics to investigate the seasonal and spatial distributions of the diurnal warming in the SCS. The sea surface diurnal warming tends to appear more easily in spring, especially in the coastal regions than other seasons and the central regions.

Citation Download Citation

Qianguang Tu, Delu Pan, Zengzhou Hao, and Jianyu Chen "Observations of SST diurnal variability in the South China Sea", Proc. SPIE 9638, Remote Sensing of the Ocean, Sea Ice, Coastal Waters, and Large Water Regions 2015, 96380O (14 October 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2194476

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