RAPID: Simultaneous Remote Measurement of Skin and Sub-skin Temperature for Ships, USVs, & Buoys

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

This RAPID project is to develop IRISS (InfraRed In situ Skin and Subskin), an innovative infrared-based sensor system to measure skin and sub-skin sea surface temperatures from ships, Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV), and buoys. Two cruises of opportunity will be used to validate this approach against other air-sea interaction measurements for a proof of concept. This unique system could be transformative because it has the potential to greatly increase the number and coverage of skin and subskin temperature measurements, which will enhance satellite validation, since these quantities correspond to the IR and microwave retrievals of sea surface temperatures, respectively. IRISS will also provide the first routine measurements of SSTsubskin. The resulting improvements to models for the cool skin and near surface temperature stratification will enhance topical oceanographic research, address current operational priorities, and improve satellite SST. A significant strength of this approach is that SSTskin and SSTsubskin will be measured simultaneously with the same sensor. Furthermore, the system will provide the first radiometric measurement of SSTsubskin, which should be a more accurate representation than can be obtained by contact measurements. The availability of accurate skin and subskin temperature from USVs and buoy will provide new data with which to improve models for near-surface stratification. The team will participate in in two cruises of opportunity to validate the method and demonstrate that this new measurement technique can significantly improve models for the cool skin and warm layer effect. The cruises are the NSF-funded Breaking Bubbles (BB) on the R/V Sikuliaq in Dec 2019 and the NOAA-funded Atomic on the R/V Brown in Jan 2020. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.