Brunner, A-M1, J.M. Mesias1, and J.J.
Bisagni1
1School for Marine Science and Technology
and Physics Department,
University of Massachusetts, North Dartmouth, MA 02747
Availability of fifteen years (1985-1999) of declouded Advanced Very
High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data from NOAA's polar-orbiting
satellites, processed using the NASA/NOAA Pathfinder sea surface
temperature (SST) algorithm, have produced high-quality SST products
that are useful for climate studies. However, products available
from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been limited to 54 km, 18
km, and 9 km resolution. Quality, high-resolution SST products are
now available through application of the Pathfinder SST algorithm to
full-resolution (1.1 km) AVHRR data by researchers located at the
University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography
(URI/GSO). Through collaboration with URI/GSO, we have produced
high-resolution (1.2 km) monthly-mean SST fields for a large domain
located between 30 and 56 degrees North latitude and 41 to 78 degress West
longitude in the western North Atlantic. Analysis of monthly-mean
SST fields over the 15-year period will enable both basin-scale and
localized studies of SST changes related to climate variability
over the continental shelf and slope, and within Narragansett Bay,
Rhode Island, respectively.