An Evaluation of Scatterometer-Derived Oceanic Surface Pressure Fields

Oceanic surface pressure fields are derived from the NASA Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) surface wind vector measurements using a two-layer similarity planetary boundary layer model in the midlatitudes and a mixed layer planetary boundary layer model in the tropics. These swath-based surface pressure fields are evaluated using the following three methods: 1) a comparison of bulk pressure gradients with buoy pressure measurements in the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, 2) a least squares difference comparison with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) surface pressure analyses, and 3) a parallel spectral analysis of the QuikSCAT and ECMWF surface pressure fields. The correlation coefficient squared between scatterometer-derived pressure fields and buoys is found to be R2 = 0.936. The average root-mean-square difference between the scatterometer-derived and the ECMWF pressure fields ranges from 1 to 3 hPa, depending on the latitude and season, and decreases after the assimilation of QuikSCAT winds in the ECMWF numerical weather prediction model. The spectral components of the scatterometer-derived pressure fields are larger than those of ECMWF surface analyses at all scales in the midlatitudes and only at shorter wavelengths in the tropics.