The Development Of Shipborne SST Data Processing Software Using IDL

SST (Sea Surface Temperature) is an significant environmental parameter and basic information of the ocean. The accurate SST measurements are important. Ocean remote sensing is an effective way to measure SST repeatedly, and accurate in-situ SST measurements play an important role in validation of the satellite remote sensing SST and improvement of the retrieval accuracy. The contact sensors for in-situ SST measurements have a higher accuracy, but the sensors destroy the sea surface structure, with the measurement depth from centimeters to meters under the sea surface. Shipborne infrared radiometers obtain data with micrometers depth, which is the same as satellite remote sensing. therefore, shipborne infrared radiometer measuremetns of SST are significant for the validation of satellite SST and improvement of the SST retrieval accuracy. A shipborne infrared radiometer has been used and proved to have an excellent accuracy with high automation. Combined with other instruments, the SST, solar radiation and bulk temperature under water line have been collected.This thesis focuses on the development of a software for the processing of the data collected by the shipborne infrared radiometer as well as other ancillary measurements using the fourth IDL (Interface Data Language), which has functions of data importing, processing and visualization with friendly user interface. The aim is to use the data easily, conveniently and efficiently. Firstly, user’s demand is analyzed and the process algorithm for the infrared radiometer is investigated in order to present the data process flow and determine the software functions. Then IDL GUI principles and widgets are studied. Thirdly, the software inclduing the control module, input module, process module and interface module is developed. The control module provides GUI between the user and software; the input module imports the original files and data; the process module processes and saves the data; and the output module visualizes the result. The system implements Shipborne infrared radiometer data processing and the match-up of ship-borne infrared radiometer data, temperature sensor data with ancillary data such as bulk temperature, longwave and shortwave radiation. It also implements data visulization, route mapping and blackbody calibration. Finally, measurements collected during one cruise in 2014 are processed using the software and the results are presented.The software can save researchers’ time and reduce the complexity of multi data set processing. The processing and analyzing of the SST measurements can be carried out more rapidly and efficiently by using the software.