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The Past, Present, and Future of the AVHRR Pathfinder SST Program

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Oceanography from Space

Abstract

With origins dating back to 1990, the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Pathfinder Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Program has experienced a 20-year history of reprocessing space-based observations to create accurate, consistent, climate data records. Both scientific and programmatic aspects of this history are reviewed and summarized in this chapter, along with a review of the currently available Pathfinder SST data. In addition, a look forward to the next generation of Pathfinder currently under development is presented.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    At http://pathfinder.nodc.noaa.gov

  2. 2.

    See http://www-modis.bu.edu/landcover/userguidelc/lc.html for more info

  3. 3.

    http://pathfinder.nodc.noaa.gov

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank their respective institutions for support during the preparation of this manuscript and to Jorge Vazquez and Ed Armstrong of the NASA Physical Oceanography DAAC for their long-term efforts to support the Pathfinder SST community of users. Thanks also go to the many NASA and NOAA program and project managers who kept the AVHRR Pathfinder SST Program alive over the course of the last two decades, including Eric Lindstrom and John Bates. Finally, special thanks go to the last three Directors of the NOAA National Oceanographic Data Center, most recently Margarita Conkright Gregg and before her, Zdenka Willis and Lee Dantzler. All three deemed the Pathfinder effort sufficiently worthy to contribute significant NODC resources over the years. Without these contributions, the history of Pathfinder SST would have come to an end circa 2001 and would have fallen well short of making the most of the available AVHRR record.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NOAA National Oceanographic Data Center, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA

    Kenneth S. Casey & Tess B. Brandon

  2. Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI, 02882, USA

    Peter Cornillon

  3. Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, 33149, USA

    Robert Evans

Authors
  1. Kenneth S. Casey
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  2. Tess B. Brandon
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  3. Peter Cornillon
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  4. Robert Evans
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kenneth S. Casey .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. European Commission, TP272, Joint Research Centre, Via E. Fermi 2749, Ispra, 21027, Italy

    Vittorio Barale

  2. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Marine Environmental Quality Section, Institute of Ocean Sciences, West Saanich Road 9860, Sidney, V8L 4B2, Canada

    J.F.R. Gower

  3. CNR, Istituto di Scienze Marine (ISMAR), Castello 1364, Venezia, 30122, Italy

    L. Alberotanza

Appendix: Original Members of the AVHRR Pathfinder Oceans SWG

Appendix: Original Members of the AVHRR Pathfinder Oceans SWG

  • Peter Cornillon, University of Rhode Island (Chair)

  • Robert Evans, University of Miami

  • Gene Feldman, NASA

  • Richard Legeckis, NOAA

  • Charles McClain, NASA

  • Richard W. Reynolds, NOAA

  • Charles Walton, NOAA

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Casey, K.S., Brandon, T.B., Cornillon, P., Evans, R. (2010). The Past, Present, and Future of the AVHRR Pathfinder SST Program. In: Barale, V., Gower, J., Alberotanza, L. (eds) Oceanography from Space. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8681-5_16

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