[IIOE2-EP30] PHYSICAL DETERMINISTIC SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE FROM MODIS AND VIIRS RADIANCES
Lead Investigator :
- Dr. Prabhat Koner , Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center; University of Maryland, MD 20740, USA
pkoner@umd.edu
Other Key participants (s):
- Prof. Animesh Maitra, Institute of Radio Physics and Electronics, University of Calcutta, India
am.rpe@caluniv.ac.in - Prof. Raleigh Hood, Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, USA
rhood@umces.edu
Period of Project: March 2018 to March 2021
Brief description of the Project:
The Indian Ocean is a dynamically complex and highly variable system under monsoonal influence, and contains numerous boundary currents (e.g.Leeuwin, East Madagascar, Agulhasetc.), Indian Ocean Dipole, upwellings, mesoscale eddies, cold core rings, warm-core and downwelling eddies. Moreover, for the Indian Ocean, there are large dust and aerosol inputs that occur year round. The various dust source regions around northern Indian Ocean include the Arabian Peninsula, the African continent (Somalia) and Asia. A “brown haze” lingers over the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the southern tropical Indian Ocean from industrial pollution and biomass burning on surrounding continents. It is well known that current operational MODIS SST data are sensitive to cloud contamination, water vapour and aerosols. Fortunately, our physical deterministic sea surface temperature (PDSST) retrieval method and novel cloud detection scheme offer a substantially improved end product. The unprecedented capability of PDSST is aerosol correction using aerosol as a retrieved vector. The project will focus on the development, validation and provision of high-quality satellite SST retrievals for such dynamic regions and facilitates for using these data in dynamic oceanographic applications. Thus, the proposed project contributes to the IIOE-2 science plan of understanding the complex behaviour of the Indian Ocean by providing improved coverage and high quality satellite observations to run the Indian Ocean model collaborate with other participating research group under umbrella of IIOE-2.
Region of study:
Whole of the Indian Ocean with focus on the coastal areas