Evaluation of Satellite-Derived SST Products in Identifying the Rapid Temperature Drop on the West Florida Shelf Associated With Hurricane Irma

Abstract

Satellite-derived daily sea surface temperature (SST) products are compared with moored SST observations on the West Florida Shelf during the time period of Hurricane Irma. Most of the SST products compare reasonably well with the moored data at the location of 25-m depth, where SST dropped by about 1°C after the hurricane passage. However, most of the SST products did not show the rapid SST drop at the location of 50-m depth where the surface water was cooled by about 4°C within 1 day in response to the hurricane passage. This finding has important implications to air-sea interaction studies and hurricane simulations, in which SST data play an important role. The limitations of the popular satellite products call for additional coastal ocean observations as well as proper inclusion of the real-time observations in satellite-derived products.