Evaluation of bulk method for satellite-derived latent heat flux

To establish the most accurate bulk method for estimating the satellite-derived latent heat flux (LHF), we evaluate four bulk methods by using direct eddy correlation and inertial dissipation fluxes obtained during 15 cruises in the tropics and midlatitudes. According to our results, the coupled ocean-atmosphere response experiment (COARE) version 3 is the best algorithm for estimating the satellite-derived LHF. Moreover, to clarify the error sources when measuring the satellite-derived LHF including errors in meteorological values, we evaluated the LHF errors as an error function of the meteorological values. If we assume that the reported RMS error for the satellite-derived meteorological values is valid, the RMS error of the LHF derived from instantaneous satellite data is estimated to be approximately 35-55 W/m(2). The error determined by the bulk method contributes to 30-50% of the RMS error of the LHF.