Abstract
This dataset is a part of that taken with sea-going instruments described by “Minnett, P.J., Knuteson, R.O., Best, F.A., Osborne, B.J., Hanafin, J.A., & Brown, O.B. (2001). The Marine-Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (M-AERI), a high-accuracy, sea-going infrared spectroradiometer. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 18, 994-1013". Specifically, this dataset comprises measurements of M-AERIs, ship-based Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) interferometric spectroradiometers mounted on ships a few meters (research ships) or a few tens of meters (cruise ships) above the sea surface. M-AERI spectra can be used to derive several geophysical variables, including accurate Skin Sea Surface Temperature (SSTskin) and near-surface air temperature (Minnett et al., 2005). M-AERI includes two infrared detectors and two internal blackbody cavities with SI-traceable calibration to perform real-time instrument calibration and achieve high-resolution spectra of the sea surface and atmospheric emitted infrared radiation. The scan mirror directs the field of view to include two internal blackbody calibration cavities to the sea surface and atmosphere. Before and after each deployment, the M-AERI calibration is tested using an external validation procedure in the University of Miami RSMAS laboratory using SI-traceable blackbody calibrator thus providing a calibration chain to standards at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the USA (Rice et al., 2004) and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the UK (Theocharous et al., 2019). The absolute accuracy of the infrared spectra produced by the M-AERI is determined by the effectiveness of the black-body cavities as calibration targets. The absolute accuracy of the spectral measurements of the M-AERI is better than 0.03K, which is sufficiently small to give confidence in the use of such data in the validation of satellite SSTskin retrievals. The detailed technical description is given by Minnett et al. (2001), who describe the first generation of M-AERIs which have been replaced by newer models, but for which the measurement process and calibration remain the same.