A contrast and comparison of near-sea surface air temperature/humidity from GMS and SSM/I data with an improved algorithm

With data sets gained from Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) microwave channels, Geostationary M eteorological Satellite (GMS-5) infrared channels, and ship-measured data, the statistical algorithms to estimate sea surface temperature and near-sea surface air humidity around Taiwan and the South China Sea areas are devel oped. Then a new, improved method to estimate near-sea surface air temperat ure based on the algorithm proposed by Konda et al. [1] is established in t his study. The results estimated with SSM/I data show that the root mean sq uare error (RMSE) of SST, near-sea surface air humidity and air temperature over the oceans around Taiwan and the South China Sea are 1.2 K, 1.43 g/kg , and 1.6 K, respectively. The results with GMS data are 1.7 K, 1.71 g/kg a nd 1.7 K, respectively. The results also show that the improvements in the algorithm of Konda et al. [1] simplify the computation scheme, improve the accuracy, and match the regional ocean-atmosphere properties in retrieving near-sea surface air temperature. The estimate produced using SSM/I and GMS data also show good consistency between them, both in temporal and spatial variations. Basically, the accuracy of this result implies strong potentia l for application of satellite data to relative studies and operational wor k in the ocean-atmosphere interaction.