MODIS-based sea surface temperature of the Baltic Sea Curonian Lagoon

This paper focuses on analysis of sea surface temperature (SST) derived from Terra/Aqua Moderate Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) infrared imagery between 2000 and 2011 to document the hydrological regime in the Baltic Sea Curonian Lagoon. Records of the daytime SST from MODIS were validated against conventional in situ observations from an oceanographic buoy in the SE Baltic and two coastal hydrographic stations in the Curonian Lagoon. In general a very good agreement between them was found with positive bias (RMSD) not higher than 0.49 °C (1.31 °C) and R2 not less than 0.78. The MODIS-based SST data set, having a wide spatial coverage and relatively high spatial resolution enables one to study spatial, seasonal and inter-annual SST variations unavailable from sparse in situ measurements in the Curonian Lagoon. In addition satellite SST maps allow monitoring main spatio-temporal characteristics of mesoscale frontal features associated with the Curonian Lagoon coastal plume and coastal upwelling in the SE Baltic influencing coastal and lagoon ecosystems. The satellite infrared measurements and results obtained in near-shore waters in this study are unique and should be useful to researchers of near-shore water dynamics in other coastal regions of the world.