A high-resolution satellite-derived sea surface temperature climatology for the western North Atlantic Ocean

Long-term and high-resolution (∼1.2 km) satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) fields of a monthly mean time series for the 1985–1999 period, and a daily climatology have been calculated for the North West Atlantic Ocean. The SST fields extend from 78°W to 41°W in longitude, and 30°N to 56°N in latitude, encompassing the region off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to the southern Labrador Sea. The monthly mean time series, consists of 180 cloud-masked monthly mean SST fields, derived from a full-resolution NOAA/NASA Pathfinder SST data set for the 1985–1999 period. The satellite-derived monthly mean SST fields, as compared with in situ monthly mean near-surface ocean temperatures from buoys located in the western North Atlantic, yield an overall RMS difference of 1.15 °C. The daily climatology, which consists of 365 fields, was derived by applying a least-squares harmonic regression technique on the monthly mean SST time series for the full study period. The monthly mean and daily climatological SST fields will be useful for studying inter-annual variability related to climate variability of SST over the study domain.