Abstract
The EOS-Aqua Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) has been providing global sea surface temperature (SST) data continuously under day/night and almost all weather conditions from June 2002 to the present. AMSR-E data are valuable for monitoring SST changes in the global oceans, including the Arctic Ocean, because of unique coverage during cloudy conditions. Comparative analysis in the Arctic Ocean shows that the AMSR-E SSTs are consistent with those from infrared and buoy data. Results of analysis of the AMSR-E data show anomalously high SST values in ice-free areas of the Arctic Ocean in summer especially in the Chukchi Sea in 2007. An unusually rapid increase of 5°C in SST over a period of seven days was observed which is consistent with the rapid decline in the sea ice cover in the region in 2007 that led to a dramatic decline and record low perennial ice cover in the Arctic during the same year.
