The radiative effects of atmospheric aerosols on the operational retrieval of sea surface temperature from the infrared radiances measured by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

The impact of atmospheric aerosols on the retrieval of sea surface temperature (SST) from the infrared radiances measured in channels 3(≈3.7 μm), 4(≈10.8 μm), and 5(≈12 μm) of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on board NOAA´s Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) has been investigated, using LOWTRAN-7 model simulations. The brightness temperatures in the three channels are lowered and the impact of the lowered brightness temperatures on the retrieved SSTs using the Multichannel Sea Surface Temperature (MCSST) algorithms exhibits a noticeable algorithmic dependence. The split-window algorithm yields lowered SSTs, with the SST depressions ranging from a few degrees to a fraction of a degree C, depending upon the columnar abundance, and the physical and radiative properties of the aerosols. Aerosol correction schemes are suggested based on the linear relationship between the line-of-sight aerosol optical thickness, and the SST depression