An Interactive Method for Processing and Display of Sea-Surface Temperature Fields Using VAS Multispectral Data

Abstract

A technique for interactively producing sea-surface temperatures (SST)from VAS multispectral radiance observations and displaying the derived field is outlined. High-resolution composite images using data from several times per day and over a several-day period are shown to illustrate how the technique is applied. The cloud-screening procedures are interactive so that they can be optimized to eliminate the effects of small clouds while still retrieving a sufficient number of SSTs to permit analysis of mesoscale flow features. SST-image products have been produced in real time at the University of Wisconsin as part of the genesis of Atlantic lows experiment (GALE) and as part of the NOAA operational VAS assessment (NOVA) program.