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Remotely-sensed sea surface temperatuares (SST) of Northeaster Pacific Coastal Zones
Citation:
PAYNE, M., D. REUSSER, H. LEE, II, AND C. A. BROWN. Remotely-sensed sea surface temperatuares (SST) of Northeaster Pacific Coastal Zones. Presented at PNW Climate Science Conference, Portland, OR, June 15 - 16, 2010.
Impact/Purpose:
Sea surface temperature (SST) is an important indicator of long-term trends and geographical temperature patterns; however there have been relatively few long-term records of SST in near-coastal habitats
Description:
Sea surface temperature (SST) is an important indicator of long-term trends and geographical temperature patterns; however there have been relatively few long-term records of SST in near-coastal habitats. In situ SST measurements are irregular in both space and time. Therefore, we are exploring the use of remote sensing data in near-coastal regions for climate change analyses in coastal and estuarine environments at regional and basin scales. Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) SST raster data were processed to isolate mean monthly sea surface temperature values along the coastal regions of western North America from 1981 to2009. Despite challenges related to cloud cover and signal contamination at the coast-sea interface, the data were sufficient to detect spatial patterns of coastal temperatures. One approach to quantifying these patterns was to group SST measurements into marine “ecoregions” identified by The Nature Conservancy and then analyze the similarity among ecoregions using hierarchical clustering of monthly-mean SSTs. As expected, ecoregion-scale SSTs cluster in latitudinal-related groups, with the ecoregions grouping into warm, cool, and cold temperate regions. In order to examine SST relationships in an unstructured manner, we created seasonal aggregates of mean-monthly SST along the coast for each grid cell. This analysis revealed greater variability in SSTs especially along the coasts of the Pacific Northwest and Northern California. This project generates baseline data needed to evaluate temporal trends in SST in near-coastal regions as well as providing the spatial patterns to help predict changes in the distributions of near-coastal species in response to climate change.