Validation of AVHRR and TMI-derived sea surface temperature in the northern South China Sea Chunhua Qiu a , Dongxiao Wang a , , , Hiroshi Kawamura b , Lei Guan c and Huiling Qin b a Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Environmental Dynamics, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, PR China b Center for Atmospheric and Oceanic Studies (CAOS), Faculty of Science, Tohoku University, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan c Ocean Remote Sensing Institute, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, PR China Received 15 October 2008; revised 2 October 2009; accepted 19 October 2009. Available online 31 October 2009.