Exploiting Satellite derived infrared SST sensitivity to aerosol vertical distribution

Infrared satellite observations of sea surface temperature (SST) have become essential for many applications in meteorology, climatology, and oceanography. Tropospheric aerosol concentrations increase infrared signal attenuation and affect the accuracy of infrared satellite SST retrievals. Satellite-derived skin SST (SST_skin) derived from measurements of the Marine-Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (M-AERI) and quality-controlled, collocated subsurface drifter temperatures provide data to assess the accuracy of satellite SST_skin. We used a suite of satellite-derived measurements and reanalysis data to study the effects of dust aerosols vertical distributions and properties on the retrieval of SST_skin from MODIS, of particular importance are the three-dimensional aerosol data resolved by the CALIOP lidar on the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) and the NASA Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications Version 2 (MERRA-2). Analysis of the results has been aided by numerical RTTOV simulations of the infrared radiative transfer through the atmosphere. In the region off W. Africa in the Saharan outflow area, SST_skin retrieved from MODIS has cool biases compared to in-situ shipboard radiometric measurements. Dust present at different altitudes has varying effects on the SST_skin retrieval. The aerosol introduced colder air temperature anomaly between 700 and 500 hPa introduces a more negative bias. The goal of this study is to understand better the characteristics of vertical aerosol effects on satellite retrieved infrared SST_skin, and to derive empirical formulae to improve accuracies in aerosol-contaminated regions.