A comparison of oceanic skin effect parameterizations using shipborne radiometer data

Sea surface temperature data from a shipborne radiometer were used to assess the thermal skin effect parameterization schemes of Saunders [1967], Hasse [1971], Schlussel et al. [1990], and Soloviev and Schlussel [1994]. Under low-wind, high-insolation conditions, the presence of a near surface thermocline resulted in an apparent skin effect which depended on the history of the surface heating. Neglecting these cases, the Saunders [1967] and other schemes which omit solar radiation were the most effective. The observed variation with wind speed of the adjustable coefficient, lambda(S), in the Saunders formulae was similar to that predicted by Soloviev and Schlussel [1994], but the values were significantly higher, resulting in a greater magnitude of the observed skin effect. For the conditions occurring in this data set the better formulae predicted the skin effect with a standard deviation of +/-0.16 degrees C compared to a variation of the observed skin effect of nearly +/-0.3 degrees C.