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Global distribution and seasonal dependence of satellite‐based whitecap fraction
Author(s) -
Salisbury Dominic J.,
Anguelova Magdalena D.,
Brooks Ian M.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl059246
Subject(s) - satellite , environmental science , latitude , atmospheric sciences , aerosol , wind speed , climatology , flux (metallurgy) , meteorology , geology , geography , physics , geodesy , materials science , astronomy , metallurgy
We present the first study of global seasonal distributions of whitecap fraction, W , obtained from satellite‐based radiometric observations. Satellite‐based W incorporates variability from forcings other than wind speed and can capture differences in W in initial and late lifetime stages. The satellite‐based W is more uniform latitudinally than predictions from a widely used wind speed‐dependent parameterization, W ( U 10 ), formulated from in situ observations, being on average higher than the W ( U 10 ) predictions at low latitudes and lower at middle and high latitudes. This difference provides an explanation for the consistent geographical biases in sea spray aerosol concentration found in a number of large‐scale models. Satellite estimates of W would benefit air‐sea interaction and remote sensing applications that use parameterizations in terms of W such as sea spray flux, gas transfer, and surface winds.