Dependencia angular de la emisividad de la superficie del mar: medidas experimentales frente a modelos teóricos

The demand of a minimum accuracy of ± 0.3 K in sea surface temperature (SST) by climate models, and the use of high observation angles in current space missions, need a precise and reliable determination of sea surface emissivity (SSE) in the thermal infrared region (TIR), as well as an analysis of its angular variability. In this paper we present SSE measurements obtained during the WISE 2000 campaign (WInd and Salinity Experiment), which were measured under open sea conditions, as a function of the observation angle and the surface wind speed, in four spectral channels placed within the TIR. The comparison between our results and the theoretical values given by the model of Masuda et alii. (1988) confirms the validity of this model for small observation angles, but shows discrepancies for angles higher than 50o and high wind speeds.