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Estimating Sea Surface Temperature Measurement Methods Using Characteristic Differences in the Diurnal Cycle
Author(s) -
Carella G.,
Kennedy J. J.,
Berry D. I.,
Hirahara S.,
Merchant C. J.,
MorakBozzo S.,
Kent E. C.
Publication year - 2018
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 - 10.1002/2017gl076475
Subject(s) - northern hemisphere , diurnal cycle , environmental science , sea surface temperature , climatology , wind speed , surface air temperature , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , climate change , geology , oceanography , geography
Lack of reliable observational metadata represents a key barrier to understanding sea surface temperature (SST) measurement biases, a large contributor to uncertainty in the global surface record. We present a method to identify SST measurement practice by comparing the observed SST diurnal cycle from individual ships with a reference from drifting buoys under similar conditions of wind and solar radiation. Compared to existing estimates, we found a larger number of engine room‐intake (ERI) reports post–World War II and in the period 1960–1980. Differences in the inferred mixture of observations lead to a systematic warmer shift of the bias adjusted SST anomalies from 1980 compared to previous estimates, while reducing the ensemble spread. Changes in mean field differences between bucket and ERI SST anomalies in the Northern Hemisphere over the period 1955–1995 could be as large as 0.5°C and are not well reproduced by current bias adjustment models.