Impact of Volcanic Eruptions on Sea Surface Temperature products

Presented at the GHRSST XXIII international science team meeting, 27 June-1 July 2022, online and in-person (Barcelona). #GHRSST23

Short abstract

The eruptions of the Raikoke volcano on 22 June 2019 and the Tonga volcano on 15 January 2022 sent plumes of volcanic ash to the stratosphere and higher with the potential to affect the reliability and accuracy of satellite derived Sea Surface Temperature (SST) retrievals. The current study looks at the impact of the eruptions on SST retrievals produced by the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) using SST software developed at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and using legacy GOES-13 SST software updated by NRL for compatibility with the Electro-optical Infrared Weather System Geostationary (EWS-G1) imager. Emphasis is on SST products distributed to the Group for High Resolution SST (GHRSST). We used Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) measurements over a higher latitude region that received a significant sulfur dioxide injection into the stratosphere from Raikoke. The NRL SST software produced fewer retrievals with moderately higher standard deviation following the Raikoke eruption compared to a previous year with low volcanic contamination.  The plume from the Tonga volcano had a relatively low sulfur dioxide content, so its effects were more limited in time and space. In the Tonga case, the EWS-G1 SST retrievals using the legacy software are more affected by volcanic contamination than those produced by the NRL SST software using other satellites. In general, this study finds that the NRL SST software successfully excludes SST retrievals under higher volcanic contamination while allowing retrievals, with mild consequences, under conditions of lower contamination.