Intercomparison between the satellite and Drifter observed sea surface temperature in East/Japan Sea

Abstract

The reliabilities of NOAA Optimum Interpolation sea surface temperature data (OISST) and NOAA Coral Reef Watch sea surface temperature data (CoralSST) are intercompared with surface Drifter buoy observed sea surface temperature (drifterSST) by using root mean square (RMS) error and correlation coefficient in East/Japan Sea (EJS). Results show that the RMS error and deviations between OISST, CoralSST and drifterSST are all about 1 °C, independent of seasons, and the correlation coefficients are all exceed 0.99. However, due to the effect of sea ice, there are less buoys in winter in the northern EJS, the drifterSST are less reliable in this region. In terms of the long-time variation, CoralSST is very similar to OISST. The average RMS error is 0.5 °C, and the correlation coefficient is larger than 0.99. It can be concluded that both the observed SST datasets are reliable in the EJS.