Surface Temperature
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Over the oceans, TMP.SFC is the observed sea-surface temperature corrected
for the surface elevation not being at sea level (see PRES.SFC and TMP.MSL).  
Over land, TMP.SFC is the (model-determined) skin temperature.  In a study by 
A. Betts, observations over Kansas (FIFE experiment) were compared with 
Reanalysis output.  One of the conclusions was that the skin temperature did 
not reach high enough values.  The model's skin temperature was too 
closely coupled with the 2-meter temperature.  One of his suggestions was that 
the thermal exchange coefficient was too large.  Preliminary tests suggest that 
reducing the thermal exchange coefficient does give more realistic surface 
temperatures.  The sensible heat flux remains relatively unchanged after such a 
change as the reduction of the thermal exchange coefficient is balanced by the 
increased temperature gradient.  (Also see PROBLEM.TMP.)