Production and preliminary evaluation of operational SST and aerosol products from NOAA-18 AVHRR/3

NOAA-N was launched on 20 May 2005 into an afternoon (2 pm) orbit and became NOAA-18 after successful testing. Two global AVHRR ocean products routinely generated at NOAA/NESDIS have been implemented and preliminarily tested. One is the sea surface temperature (SST) generated during both day and night from the three AVHRR thermal emission bands centered at 3.7, 11, and 12 µm and the other is aerosol optical depth (AOD) generated during the daytime only from the AVHRR solar reflectance bands centered at 0.63, 0.83, and 1.61 µm. Also, SSTs are generated from AVHRR/3 instruments flown onboard other NOAA-KLM platforms: NOAA-15 (morning), 16 (afternoon), and 17 (mid-morning), and AODs are generated from NOAA-16 and 17. This presentation will describe the implementation of the SST and aerosol products using the NOAA-18 AVHRR/3, and their preliminary evaluation using global diagnostics, which include a number of previously developed self- and cross-platform consistency checks, and customary validation against buoy SST. The afternoon and mid-morning SSTs from NOAA-16, 17 and 18 are in close agreement, whereas the respective AOD products show some systematic differences, as a result of AVHRR calibration uncertainties in the solar reflectance bands. Potential improvements to both SST and aerosol products, and prospects for aerosol correction in the derivation of SST, will be discussed.