Investigating Sea Surface Temperature Retrievals of Lakes Using Geostationary and Polar-Orbiting Platforms

Since the launch and operational takeover of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) – 16 (R), the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) has provided a geostationary instrument with improved spatial resolution (2 km) to measure sea surface temperatures (SST) of oceans and lakes. Previously, this capability was reserved for the polar orbiting satellites with high spatial resolution (750 m and 1 km respectively) from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the Suomi Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Aqua satellite. The pilot study comparison of in situ buoy data compared to GOES-16 ABI SSTs from large scale lakes shows high variability in measurements due to sky condition, however, during periods of relatively clear skies, SSTs verified within ~0.5 C. This case study compares and analyzes the current GOES-R ABI, Suomi NPP VIIRS, and Aqua MODIS capability to collect derived SST measurements for large, medium, and small-scale lakes in a variety of sky conditions across the United States and highlights the opportunity for continued development of an improved spatial resolution ABI for the next generation GOES Series.