Satellite Observations during TOGA COARE: Large-Scale Descriptive Overview

Abstract

The 1992/93 Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) was specifically designed to monitor multiscale interactions between the atmosphere and ocean over the western Pacific warm pool. To help meet this objective, satellite observations were used to augment the enhanced COARE conventional data array in both space and time. In this paper the authors present a descriptive overview of convective cloud variability and sea surface temperature during the four-month intensive observational period (IOP) as revealed by satellite. Time series of Geostationary Meteorological Satellite infrared brightness temperatures are evaluated at selected equatorial locations in the western Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans. Intraseasonal modes of transient convection/cloudiness are revealed, with two eastward-propagating Madden-Julian oscillations identified. Spectral analysis on the time series data indicates that higher-frequency variations in regional convective activity are also found to occur. Several satellite cloud signatures and patterns were detected during a strong west wind burst event in late December (1992), and these are described in detail. Time-composited sea surface temperature (SST) fields derived from satellite radiances indicate that significant regional variations in SST occurred during the passage of the west wind event. The satellite-derived SST fields compiled during the IOP are validated against in situ observations in the COARE domain, with a 0.25°C warm bias noted in the composited satellite data.