抄録
It is now becoming widely accepted that satellite infrared instruments actually measure the skin
temperature of the ocean surface rather than the bulk temperature as measured by in-situ devices
mounted on ships and buoys. Traditional fields of satellite-derived SST have been supplied through
the long-term series of AVHRR instruments either as MCSST or as a product of the joint NASANOAA
Pathfinder Project. Algorithm coefficients have been derived using regression analyses
with coincident satellite and in-situ measurements of bulk-SST. Thus the difference between the
skin (as measured by the AVHRR) and the bulk (in-situ) temperatures has been inherently included
in the AVHRR SST algorithms. In contrast data from the ATSR instruments on the ERS-1 and
ERS-2 satellites have been analysed using theoretically derived SST algorithms and thus provide a
direct measure of the skin temperature. Precise validation of the ATSR SST product has only been
possiblewith the use of surface-or airborne-based infraredradiometers. Before numerical modellers
will be convinced of the need to use skin (radiative) temperatures rather than bulk temperatures in
air-sea interaction processes it is crucial that a globally robust relation or parameterisation between
the two ”sea surface temperatures” is obtained. This paper will suggest and explore the future
directions of investigations that are needed to provide such a relation.
