Weekly Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature Data from FIRE ASTEX 1992

1992 weekly sea surface temperature fields derived from NOAA-11 and NOAA-12 satellite observations for the eastern North Atlantic Ocean. The data was collected during the FIRE ASTEX field experiment to study marine stratocumulus clouds and improve climate models. It was produced by the Centre Meteorologie Spatiale and archived by NASA's LARC_ASDC.

Use Cases

• Analyze weekly sea surface temperature variability in the eastern North Atlantic during June 1992 using the gridded temperature fields.
• Validate and calibrate general circulation model (GCM) cloud parameterizations by comparing model outputs with the observed temperature data from the ASTEX mission.
• Study the relationship between sea surface temperature and marine stratocumulus cloud life cycles using the spatially resolved 0.02-degree pixel data.
• Correlate daytime (jour) and nighttime (nuit) temperature observations from NOAA-11 and NOAA-12 to assess diurnal cycles in the study region.

Strengths

• High spatial resolution of 0.02 degrees per pixel, providing detailed geographic coverage.
• Data collected during a coordinated, intensive field observation period (FIRE ASTEX) combining satellite, airborne, and surface measurements.
• Temporal specificity with weekly files for June 1992, allowing for analysis of short-term variability.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage is limited to a single month (June 1992), restricting long-term trend analysis.
• Spatial coverage is confined to the eastern North Atlantic Ocean, limiting geographic generalizability.
• Data format and structure are legacy, with a specific file naming convention (thseXXYYZZ.fis) that may require interpretation.

Provenance

Source

NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center (LARC_ASDC).

Collection Method

Observations from the NOAA 11 and 12 polar-orbiting satellites, processed into weekly gridded temperature fields.

Time Range

June 1992 (weekly files).

Freshness

null

Geography

Eastern North Atlantic Ocean.