Monitoring of IR Clear-Sky Radiances over Oceans for SST (MICROS) is a Web-based tool to monitor model minus observation (M-O) biases in clear-sky brightness temperatures (BTs) and sea surface temperatures (SSTs) produced by the Advanced Clear-Sky Processor for Oceans (ACSPO) system developed at NESDIS. The fast Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) is employed to simulate clear-sky BTs, using Reynolds SST and NCEP/GFS atmospheric profiles as inputs. Simulated BTs are used in ACSPO for improved cloud screening, physical SST inversions, and monitoring and validating satellite BTs and CRTM. The key MICROS objectives are to fully understand and reconcile the measured and simulated BTs, and to minimize cross-platform biases through improvements to ACSPO algorithms, CRTM and its inputs, satellite radiances, and skin-bulk and diurnal SST modeling.

Until recently, MICROS monitored M-O biases in three AVHRR bands centered at 3.7, 11, and 12 µm for five satellites, NOAA-16, -17, 18, -19 and MetOp-A. In preparation for launch of NPP/VIIRS in October 2011 and MetOp-B in April 2012, MICROS functionality has been extended to additionally monitor clear-sky ocean radiances in AVHRR-like bands of two MODIS instruments onboard Terra and Aqua, and VIIRS proxy data generated from Aqua/MODIS. NPP/VIIRS and MetOp-B/AVHRR clear-sky radiances will be added in MICROS, once sensor data become available.

MICROS is now used by several research and applications groups. NESDIS SST Team routinely uses MICROS for testing and improving ACSPO products. The double differences employed in MICROS contribute to sensor-to-sensor monitoring within the Global Space-based Inter-Calibration System (GSICS), which customarily performs this function using the well-established simultaneous nadir overpass technique. Also, CRTM scientists have made a number of critical improvements to CRTM using MICROS results. NESDIS CRTM Team now routinely uses MICROS to continuously monitor M-O biases and validate and improve CRTM performance. MICROS is also instrumental in evaluating the accuracy of the first-guess SST and upper-air fields used as input to CRTM.

In this presentation, MICROS system is illustrated, and the utility of MICROS to monitor satellite radiances over clear-sky global ocean in near-real time for stability and cross-platform consistency is demonstrated. Also, the preliminary results of AVHRR-MODIS-VIIRS radiance consistency are discussed.