Does the SST-LHF relationship reverse for satellite derived products?

Accurate retrieval of air-sea exchange parameters from satellite is highly desirable as it contributes immensely to the understanding of climate change. Due to the inherent difficulties in the direct flux measurement, indirect approaches to flux estimation have been widely adopted in spite of the large uncertainties associated with them. More recently Fairall et al (2003) have reported the final version of the bulk flux algorithm that emerged out of a carefully planned Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) where more than 7216 hours of direct flux measurements were used to validate the bulk algorithm. They have succeeded in narrowing down the uncertainty from the then existing 20-30% level to 5% for wind speeds of 0-10 m/s and to 10% for 10-20 m/s wind speed.