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Sea surface temperature signals from satellites—An update
Author(s) -
Strong A. E.,
Kearns E. J.,
Gjovig K. K.
Publication year - 2000
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 - 10.1029/1999gl002392
Subject(s) - northern hemisphere , southern hemisphere , climatology , sea surface temperature , environmental science , latitude , satellite , atmospheric sciences , tropics , polar , geology , oceanography , fishery , engineering , biology , geodesy , aerospace engineering , physics , astronomy
Polar satellite‐derived observations of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) have been used routinely since 1982 to provide a complete monitoring of our planet, covering all comers of the oceans (unless covered by clouds) twice each day. In 1992, an initial glimpse was published (Strong, 1992) of some tendencies that had been observed during the 1980s. Now that seven additional years of NOAA satellite SST data have become available, the earlier time‐series (Strong, 1992) has been up‐dated, hi this analysis of the global nighttime SSTs, care was taken to avoid the anomalous conditions found during the 1982–83 El Chichón aerosols, 1991–92 Mt. Pinatubo aerosols, and the strong El Niño of 1997‐98. Evidence of warming is found to be present throughout much of the Tropics and in the mid‐latitude Northern Hemisphere. Estimates from the Southern Hemisphere, while strongly indicative of compensatory cooling in the region, are found to be not as reliable.