A survey of worldwide sea surface temperature fronts detected by environmental satellites

Abstract

The recent improvement of infrared scanners on the polar and geostationary environmental satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has enabled the detection of many sea surface temperature fronts associated with ocean currents and upwelling. The present capabilities and limitations of these satellites in ocean applications are summarized. Examples of infrared imagery are used to illustrate the horizontal temperature distribution at the ocean thermal fronts. It is postulated that future improvements in satellite systems will increase further our capability to detect ocean fronts.