Instruments and Methods Retrieval of sea surface specific humidity based on AMSR-E satellite data

AbstractA new algorithm using a multivariate regression technique for retrieving sea surface specific humidity (Q) from remotesensing data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) is proposed. Daily and monthlyspecific humidity data from the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis dataset and data of seasurface temperature, atmospheric total water vapor, and wind speed from AMSR-E oceanographic products were used toderive the regression coefficients of the algorithm, and all the data for derivation are from the year 2003. An F-test wasapplied to the regression, and small P-values indicate that the regressions are significant to a high level of confidence. Thederived coefficients have been validated using similar data from the year 2004. The root mean square (rms) error of thealgorithm for daily retrieved Q over the global oceans is 1.05gkg 1 , and the rms error for monthly retrieved Q is0.61gkg 1 .r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: AMSR-E; Multivariate regression; NCEP reanalysis; Sea surface specific humidity