Satellite Sea-surface Salinity Retrieval Dependencies

Li Ren, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, United States and Eric J Bayler, NOAA/NESDIS/STAR, College Park, MD, United States
Abstract:
Comparing satellite sea-surface salinity (SSS) measurements and in situ observations reveals large-scale differences. What causes these differences? In this study, five boxes, sampling various oceanic regimes of the global ocean, provide insights on the relative performance of satellite SSS retrievals with respect to the influences of SST, precipitation and wind speed. The regions sampled are: the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ), NASA’s Salinity Processes of the Upper-ocean Regional Study (SPURS) area, the North Pacific subarctic region, and the southern Indian Ocean. This study examines satellite SSS data from NASA’s Aquarius Mission and ESA’s Soil Moisture – Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, specifically: Aquarius official Aquarius Data Processing System (ADPS) Level-2 data, experimental Aquarius Combined Active-Passive (CAP) Level-2 SSS data developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and SMOS Level-2 data.
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