NIWA has developed an archive of 1.1 km resolution satellite derived sea surface temperature (SST) data for a 3504 x 3504 domain centred on New Zealand. At the end of 2002 this dataset will contain 10 years of observations from five NOAA satellites (NOAAs 11, 12, 14 and 15) – all derived using the same Bayesian cloud detection algorithm and the NESDIS Non-Linear SST (NLSST) retrieval formalism. Uddstrom and Oien (1999) reported on the validation and analysis of the first 5 years (1993 – 1997) of these data, describing a preliminary climatology and the specification of the spatial and temporal variability of ocean features in the south-west Pacific region. With 10 years of data available, including the strongest El Niño of the modern record, this paper will review what has been learned of the oceanography of the region from analysis of these high resolution data, revise the climatology, indicate the system’s response to the 1998 El Niño, and with reference to the analyses of Strong et al. (2000) and Casey and Cornillon (2001), comment on the watermass dependence of apparent warming and cooling signals identified in the region.

Casey, K.S. and P. Cornillon, 2001: Global and regional sea surface temperature trends. Journal of Climate, 14, 3801 – 3818.

Strong, A.E., Kearns, E.J. and K.K. Gjovig, 2000: Sea surface temperature signals from satellites – An Update. Geophysical Research Letters, 27, 1667 – 1670.

Uddstrom, M.J. and N.A. Oien 1999: On the use of high-resolution satellite data to describe the spatial and temporal variability of sea surface temperatures in the New Zealand Region. Journal of Geophysical Research (Oceans) 104, C9, 20729 – 20751.