Typescript (photocopy) / Bibliography: leaves 127-131. / Microfiche. / xii, 131 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Satellite technology represents the only technique for measuring sea surface temperatures (SSTs) on a global scale. SSTs are important as boundary conditions for climate and atmospheric boundary layer models which attempt to describe phenomena of all scales, ranging from local forecasts to predictions of global warming. Historical use of infrared satellite measurements for SST determination has been based on a theory which assumes that the atmosphere is 'thin', i.e., that atmospheric absorption of infrared radiation emitted from the sea surface has very little effect on the radiant intensity that is measured by satellites. However, a variety of independent radiative transfer models point to the possibility that the so-called 'thin approximation' is violated for humid atmospheres such as those found in the tropics, leading to errors in the retrieved SST that would be unacceptable to those who make use of such products. Furthermore, such tropical regions represent a significant portion of the globe, where coupled ocean-atmosphere disturbances can have global effects (e.g., the tropical Pacific El Nino-Southern Oscillation events). This study evaluates the thin approximation empirically, by combining radiative transfer theory and satellite data from the Eastern Atlantic ocean region studied during the Atlantic Statocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX). Six months of satellite data from May, June, and July of 1983 and 1984 are analyzed. To the degree that the data may be considered representative of globally valid relationships between measured variables, it is shown that the thin approximation is not appropriate for the tropics. This suggests that new methods are necessary for retrieving SSTs from the more humid regions of the globe. / Graduation date: 1993