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], Schlüssel et al. [1990], and Soloviev and Schlüssel [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, λ_s, in the Saunders formulae was similar to that predicted by Soloviev and Schlüssel [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°C compared to a variation of the observed skin effect of nearly ±0.3°C.