Surface Turbulent Heat and Momentum Fluxes over Global Oceans Based on the Goddard Satellite Retrievals, Version 2 (GSSTF2)

Abstract

Information on the turbulent fluxes of momentum, latent heat, and sensible heat at the air-sea interface is essential in improving model simulations of climate variations and in climate studies. A 13.5-yr (July 1987-December 2000) dataset of daily surface turbulent fluxes over global oceans has been derived from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) radiance measurements. This dataset, Goddard Satellite-based Surface Turbulent Fluxes, version 2 (GSSTF2), has a spatial resolution of 1 1 latitude-longitude and a temporal resolution of 1 day. Turbulent fluxes are derived from the SSM/I surface winds and surface air humidity, as well as the 2-m air and sea surface temperatures (SST) of the NCEP-NCAR reanalysis, using a bulk aerodynamic algorithm based on the surface layer similarity theory.