The Accuracy of Sst Retrievals from Aatsr : Synthesis and Integration of Comparisons to Buoys and Radiometers

The Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR), launched on ENVISAT in March 2002, is the third in a series of instrument designed to make precise and accurate global Sea Surface Temperature (SST) estimations. At the time of the ENVISAT Symposium 2007, geophysical validation indicates that the AATSR 1 km and 10' spatially averaged D3 SSTs are generally in specification, in that AATSR 1 km D3 SSTs have a warm bias of +0.10 K (σ = 0.38 K) in the Caribbean with a smaller bias +0.01 K (σ = 0.24 K) observed in the Bay of Biscay. Corresponding AATSR 10' D3 SSTs have a warm bias of +0.17 K (σ = 0.24 K) in the Caribbean with a smaller bias -0.02 K (σ = 0.28 K) observed in the Bay of Biscay. Detailed analysis of both D2-N2 and D3-N3 radiometer match-ups indicates a bio-modal distribution, which can be used to provide improved confidence in the AATSR data by removing aerosol and cloud contaminated data.