Estimation and Evaluation of Near-Real Time Diurnal Warming Products for Use with Sea Surface Temperature Analyses

Gary Wick

Tuesday, Jun 21, 2016, 2:00 pm
DSRC Room 2A-305

Abstract

Diurnal changes in the sea surface temperature (SST) complicate the generation and interpretation of daily SST analyses. Observations from different times through the day and different effective measurement depths are all influenced by diurnal warming to differing amounts, and generation of foundation SST analyses requires some approach to treating the effects of diurnal warming. While multiple SST analyses currently exist, only limited information is available on the diurnal variations that occur on top of the daily estimates on a global scale. Similarly, little systematic information is available on differences in accuracy of currently available methods for estimating diurnal warming.



To support production of daily SST analyses by NESDIS, physically based one-dimensional models have been implemented to provide global, hourly estimates of diurnal warming at multiple depths in near-real-time based on forcing data from numerical weather prediction analyses. The facility currently obtains daily heat and momentum flux forcing data from the NOAA Global Forecast System (GFS) model as well as wave parameters from the Wave Watch III model. In this presentation, the models, inputs, and resulting products are described and results from the past year are compared with direct observations of diurnal warming from geostationary satellites. Preliminary impacts of incorporating the diurnal warming estimates in a daily SST analysis are also presented. In a related project, derived diurnal warming estimates are being used to determine the impact of the largest diurnal warming events on air-sea interactions.