Estimation of High-Resolution Global Monthly Ocean Latent Heat Flux from MODIS SST Product and AMSR-E Data

• Published in: Advances in meteorology Vol. 2020; no. 2020; pp. 1 - 19
• Main Authors: Bei, Xiangyi, Xu, Jia, Zhang, Xiaotong, Jia, Kun, Li, Yufu, Zhao, Shaohua, Yao, Yunjun, Chen, Xiaowei, Shang, Ke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2020; Hindawi; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Accuracy; Algorithms; Annual variations; Bias; Buoys; Climate change; Computer simulation; Datasets; Heat; Heat flux; Heat transfer; High resolution; Humidity; Latent heat; Latent heat flux; Methods; Monthly; Ocean; Oceans; Remote sensing; Resolution; Satellite data; Satellites; Sea surface; Spatial distribution; Spatial resolution; Surface temperature; Variables; Wind; South China Sea; Pacific Ocean; United States > US; Japan
• ISSN: 1687-9309; 1687-9317; 1687-9317
• DOI: 10.1155/2020/8857618

Accurate estimation of satellite-derived ocean latent heat flux (LHF) at high spatial resolution remains a major challenge. Here, we estimate monthly ocean LHF at 4 km spatial resolution over 5 years using bulk algorithm COARE 3.0, driven by satellite data and meteorological variables from reanalysis. We validated the estimated ocean LHF by multiyear observations and by comparison with seven ocean LHF products. Validation results from monthly observations at 96 widely distributed buoy sites from three buoy site arrays (TAO, PIRATA, and RAMA) indicated a bias of less than 7 W/m2 with R2 of more than 0.80 (p<0.01) and with a King–Gupta efficiency (KGE) of over 0.84. Our estimated ocean LHF also performs well in simulating annual variability and predicting between-site variability, as indicated by a bias of lower than 6 W/m2 and an R2 of more than 0.84 (p<0.01). Overall, the average KGE for estimated ocean LHF increased by 18%–23% compared to other LHF products, indicating robust LHF estimation performance. Importantly, our estimated annual ocean LHF has similar global spatial distribution compared to other LHF products, although there are general differences in LHF values due to the difference in the models and the spatial resolution.