The current SST products perform fairly uniform globally, but significant differences and uncertainties exist in high latitudes (beyond 60 degrees N/S). This Task Team will try to understand why these differences arise with the aim to improve the SST performance in high latitudes.  

A key challenge in the surface temperature estimation arises due to the mix of open water and sea ice. This complicates the surface temperature trend estimations since the L4 SST and IST products traditionally have been derived and analyzed separately.  

Recent efforts have been made to combine SST and IST in L4 products, but this requires a detailed analysis of the consistency between existing SST, IST and sea ice products. This is also a task of this TT, with the overall aim to improve consistency and to be advisers for SST-only users on how to handle ice masking and different sea ice products.   

Sea Ice Surface temperature products are not as mature as SST products, and IST definitions and specifications are lacking. Developing and agreeing on these (in collaboration with the IST community) is a key task of this TT to align with the SST counterpart.  IST product validation and comparisons will also be conducted.  

Reference data in the high latitudes are very sparse, both for SST and IST and this TT will focus on identifying and using the available reference observations. 

OBJECTIVES

The main objectives of the High Latitude Task Team are to: 

  • Exchange ideas related to High Latitude SST/IST  
  • Validate and improve SST/IST satellite retrievals at high latitudes  
  • Integrate and assess the consistency of SST/IST/SIC products (advise SST-only users on how to handle ice masking and SIC)  
  • Facilitate the use of existing in situ observations (including FRMs) and encourage the community to deploy new drifting buoys and other in situ observations 

ACTIVITIES

Task 1 – Validate adn Improve HL SST

Task Lead: Steinar Eastwood (Norwegian Meteorological Institute)

Task Activities:

  • Task 1.1: Validate SST products in the high latitudes, using FRM and reference observations ​
  • Task 1.2: Diurnal warming in polar regions​
  • Task 1.3 Improving cloud masking/QC​

Task 2 – Validate and improve IST, and develop IST definitions/specifications ​

Task Lead: Pia Englyst (Danish Meteorological Institute)

Task Activities:

  • Task 2.1: Improve the understanding of IST​
  • ​Task 2.2: Assess the performance of IST products
  • ​Task 2.3: Cloud Masking over ice​

Task 3 –  Improve the consistency between SST, IST and sea ice concentration products​

Task Leads: Pia Englyst (Danish Meteorological Institute) and Steinar Eastwood (Norwegian Meteorological Institute)

Task Activities:

  • Task 3.1 Improve the understanding of the MIZ temperatures​
  • Task 3.2: Assess the relationship and consistency of the surface temperatures (UISST+SST+IST) and sea ice concentration (SIC) using satellite, in situ, and model data​

TASK TEAM MEMBERS

Co-Chairs:Pia Englyst (Danish Meteorological Institute) and Steinar Eastwood (Norwegian Meteorological Institute)

Task Team Members: Albert Larson, Andre L. Belem, Andy Harris, Anne O’Carroll, Astrid Pacini, Bingkun Luo, Boris Petrenko, Chenlie Shi, Chong Jia, Christopher Merchant, Chunxue Yang, Claire Bulgin, Danielle Carpenter, Eri Yoshizawa, Frederick Bingham, Gary Corlett, Gary Wick, Helen Beggs, Ida Olsen, Ioanna Karagali, Irina Gladkova, Jacob Høyer, Jake Longenecker, James A. Carton, Jorge Vazquez, Kyung-Ae Park, Marisol Garcia-Reyes, Mike Steele, Misako Kachi, Owen Embury, Pallavi Govekar, Pia Englyst, Sandra Castro, Sergey Skachko, Simon Proud, Steinar Eastwood, Swadhin Satapathy, Toshio (Mike) Chin, Werenfrid Wimmer, Youyu Lu, Yukio Kurihara

INTERESTED IN CONTRIBUTING?

Please contact the co-chairs or the task leaders directly:

  • Pia Englyst, pne@dmi.dk