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Sea Surface Temperature Measurements from Thermal Infrared Satellite Instruments: Status and Outlook

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Oceanography from Space

Abstract

Over the last 10 years there has been significant development in the definition, availability, future planning and service provision of satellite sea surface temperature measurements based on TIR satellite data. A short overview of key past, present and future TIR sensors is provided together with an overview of the primary on-going retrieval challenges and issues. The future outlook for TIR satellite systems is good, with assured continuity of the AATSR class of instruments, as part of the EU Sentinel, and continuity of the AVHRR/MODIS class instruments as part of the USA NPOESS program. Geostationary TIR imager capability is also assured until 2020. The international framework pioneered by the Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature is then discussed in the context of developing an international community of SST producers and users.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See http://www.osi-saf.org

  2. 2.

    See http://www.ghrsst.org

  3. 3.

    See http://ghrsst-pp.metoffice.com/pages/latest_analysis/sst_monitor/daily/ens/index.html

  4. 4.

    See http://www.hrdds.net

  5. 5.

    See http://ghrsst.nodc.noaa.gov

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ESTEC (EOP-SME), European Space Agency, Noordwijk, 2201, AZ, The Netherlands

    Craig J. Donlon

Authors
  1. Craig J. Donlon
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Correspondence to Craig J. Donlon .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. European Commission, TP272, Joint Research Centre, Via E. Fermi 2749, Ispra, 21027, Italy

    Vittorio Barale

  2. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Marine Environmental Quality Section, Institute of Ocean Sciences, West Saanich Road 9860, Sidney, V8L 4B2, Canada

    J.F.R. Gower

  3. CNR, Istituto di Scienze Marine (ISMAR), Castello 1364, Venezia, 30122, Italy

    L. Alberotanza

Appendix

Appendix

Key TIR sensors and their basic characteristics for missions operating from 2000 and up to 2020 (data obtained from CEOS 2009):

  • Along Track Scanning Radiometer 2 (ATSR-2)

  • Advanced along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR)

  • Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer 3 (AVHRR/3)

  • Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)

  • Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI)

  • Visible and Infrared Sounder (VIRS)

  • Meteosat Third Generation (MTG)

  • MTSAT Imager

  • GOES Imager

  • Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)

  • Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR)

  • Multispectral Visible and Infrared Scan Radiometer (10 channels)

  • Visible and Infra-red Scan Radiometer (VIRR)

The following tables list each instruments’ name, mission(s), spatial resolution, swath, wavebands, description, as in:

Instrument

Mission(s)

Spatial resolution

Swath width

Spectral bands

Description

Along track scanning radiometer 2 (ATSR-2)

ERS-2 (1995-04-21 2011-12-31)

1.1 km

512 km

VIS – SWIR:

  

0.65 μm

  

0.85 μm

  

1.27 μm

  

1.6 μm

  

SWIR-TIR:

  

1.6 μm

  

3.7 μm

  

11 μm

  

12 μm

Imaging Vis/IR radiometer exploiting different viewing conditions

Advanced along track scanning radiometer (AATSR)

ENVISAT (2002-03-01 2013-12-31)

1.1 km

512 km

VIS – NIR:

  

0.555 μm

  

0.659 μm

  

0.865 μm

  

SWIR:

  

1.6 μm

  

MWIR:

  

3.7 μm

  

TIR:

  

10.85 μm

  

12 μm

Imaging Vis/IR radiometer exploiting different viewing conditions

Advanced very high resolution radiometer 3 (AVHRR/3)

NOAA-12 (1991-05-14 2005-12-31)

NOAA-14 (1994-12-30 2005-12-31)

NOAA-15 (1998-05-01 2010-12-31)

NOAA-16 2000-09-21 2012-12-31

NOAA-17 (2002-06-24 2014-12-31)

NOAA-18 (2005-05-20 2015-12-31)

NOAA-19 (2009-02-04 2016-03-01)

EUMETSAT

Metop-A (2006-10-19 2011-11-01)

Metop-B (2012-04-02 2017-05-01)

Metop-C (2016-04-02 2021-12-01)

1.1 km

~3,000 km ensures full global coverage twice daily

VIS:

0.58–0.68 μm

  

NIR:

  

0.725–1.1 μm

  

SWIR:

  

1.58–1.64 μm

  

MWIR:

  

3.55–3.93 μm

  

TIR:

  

10.3–11.3 μm

  

11.5–12.5 μm

Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer

Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR)

Moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS)

Terra (1999-12-18 2011-09-30)

Aqua (2002-05-04 2011-09-30)

250 m (day)

2,330 km

VIS – TIR:

1,000 m (night)

SST: 1,000 m

 

36 bands in range 0.4–14.4 μm

Medium-resolution spectro-radiometer

Spinning enhanced visible and infrared imager (SEVIRI)

Meteosat-8 (2002-08-13 2011-06-30)

Meteosat 9 (2005-12-21 2014-06-30)

HRV = 1 km all others = 3 km (spatial sampling distance at SSP)

Full earth disk

HRV:

~0.48–0.91 μm

  

VIS:

  

0.6 μm

0.8 μm

NIR:

1.6 μm

  

IR:

  

3.9 μm

  

6.3 μm

  

7.3 μm

  

8.7 μm

  

9.7 μm

  

10.8 μm

  

12.0 μm

  

13.4 μm

Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer, in geostationary orbit

Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR)

Visible and infrared sounder (VIRS)

Tropical rainfall mapping mission (TRMM) (1997-11-27 2011-09-30)

2 km

720 km

VIS:

  

0.63 μm

  

SWIR – MWIR:

  

1.60 μm

  

3.75 μm

  

TIR:

  

10.8 μm

  

12.0 μm

NASA/JAXA

Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR)

Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer

Meteosat third generation (MTG)

MTG Imager-1 (2016-12-15 2025-06-15)

MTG Imager-2 (2021-06-15 2029-12-15)

MTG Imager-3 (2025-01-15 2033-07-15)

MTG Imager-4 (2029-06-15 2037-12-15)

VIS/SWIR:

Full earth disk

VIS:

0.5, 1.0 km

 

0.4 μm

IR:

 

0.5 μm

2.0 km

 

0.6 μm

  

0.8 μm

  

0.9 μm

  

NIR:

  

1.3 μm

  

1.6 μm

  

2.2 μm

  

3.8 μm

  

6.3 μm

  

7.3 μm

  

8.7 μm

  

9.7 μm

  

10.5 μm

  

12.3 μm

  

13.3 μm

Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer, in geostationary orbit

Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR)

MTSAT imager

MTSAT-1, 2 and 3

VIS: 1 km

Full earth disk (every

VIS – SWIR:

TIR: 4 km

hour)

0.55 – 0.80 μm

  

MWIR – TIR:

  

3.5 – 4 μm

  

6.5 – 7 μm

  

10.3 – 11.3 μm

  

11.5 – 12.5 μm

Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR)

Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer

GOES imager

GOES-10

GOES-11

GOES-12

GOES-8

GOES-9

GOES-14

GOES-P

GOES-13

10 km

Full earth disk

GOES 8 – 11

  

VIS:

  

(1 channel, 8 detectors)

  

IR:

  

(4 channels)

  

3.9 μm

  

6.7 μm

  

10.7 μm

  

12 μm

  

GOES 12 – Q

  

VIS:

  

(1 channel, 8 detectors)

  

IR:

  

(4 channels)

  

3.9 μm

  

6.7 μm

  

10.7 μm

  

13.3 μm

Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR)

Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer

Visible/Infrared imager radiometer suite (VIIRS)

NPP NPOESS preparatory project (2010-06-02 2015-06-02)

NPOESS-1 (2013-01-31 2020-01-01)

NPOESS-2 (2016-01-31 2022-01-01)

NPOESS-3 (2018-01-31 2025-01-01)

NPOESS-4 (2020-01-31 2027-01-01)

400 m–1.6 km

3,000 km

VIS – TIR:

  

22 channels range 0.4–12.5 μm

NASA/NOAA and USA DoD

Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR)

Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer

Sea and land surface temperature radiometer (SLSTR)

Sentinel-3A (2012-10-01 2019-10-01)

Sentinel-3B (2015-10-01 2022-10-01)

VNIR/SWIR:

Near-nadir view:

S1

0.555 μm

500 m

1,400 km

S2

0.659 μm

TIR:

Backward view:

S3

0.865 μm

1 km

750 km

S4

1.375 μm

  

S5

1.61 μm

  

S6

2.25 μm

  

S7

3.74 μm

  

S8

10.95 μm

  

S9

12 μm

ESA/EC

Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR)

Multi-channel/direction/polarisation radiometer

Multispectral visible and infrared scan radiometer (10 channels)

FY-1C and 1D

1.1 km

3,200 km

VIS:

  

0.43–0.48 μm

  

0.48–0.53 μm

  

0.53–0.58 μm

  

0.58–0.68 μm

  

NIR:

  

0.84–0.89 μm

  

NIR–SWIR:

  

0.90–0.965 μm

  

1.58–1.68 μm

  

3.55–3.93 μm

  

TIR:

  

10.3–11.3 μm

  

11.5–12.5 μm

Chinese Space Agency

Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR)

Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer

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Donlon, C.J. (2010). Sea Surface Temperature Measurements from Thermal Infrared Satellite Instruments: Status and Outlook. In: Barale, V., Gower, J., Alberotanza, L. (eds) Oceanography from Space. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8681-5_13

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