Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Sensors for Australian Vessels

Remotely sensed sea surface temperature (SST) data are important inputs to ocean, numerical weather prediction, seasonal and climate models.  In order to improve calibration and validation of satellite SST in the Australian region, there is a need for high quality in situ SST observations with greater timeliness, spatial and temporal coverage than is currently available.  Typically, SST observations from the ships of opportunity program (SOOP) in the Australian region are either of uncertain accuracy or difficult to access in a timely manner, and have therefore not been used for near real-time validation of satellite SST observations. 

During 2008 and 2009, as part of the IMOS project, new streams of high quality, near real-time (within 24 hours), SST observations from five vessels in the Australian region have become available on the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) and the IMOS data portal.  By the end of 2010 new data streams from a further nine Australian vessels will be added to the project.

Initial assessment of data from two of the temperature sensors (SBE 3 on RV Southern Surveyor and SBE 48 on MV Spirit of Tasmania II) using a three-way comparison between ship SST, AATSR ATS_MET_2P SST and drifting and moored buoy SST indicates comparable or lower errors than those available from drifting buoys.  Although further tests are required, it would appear that the new IMOS ship SST data streams are suitable for calibration and/or validation of satellite SST observations, thereby considerably increasing the spatial and temporal coverage of available validation data.  For further information see http://imos.org.au/soopdoc.html.