PO31B:
Ocean Salinity and Water Cycle Variability and Change I


Session ID#: 7882

Session Description:
This session highlights new research investigating observed and modeled ocean variability and change, focusing on ocean salinity as an important driver of ocean circulation and upper­ocean mixing and a key indicator of the global water cycle. Recent observations, historical measurements, and model simulations have revealed oceanic variability and change on short (daily to seasonal) and longer (interannual to climate, >30­year) timescales. The SMOS and Aquarius/SAC­-D satellite missions present an unprecedented opportunity to monitor surface salinity and elucidate the ocean processes driving salinity variations on numerous timescales. Satellites complement in situ observations and process­ oriented field experiments, allowing researchers to develop a detailed understanding of the causes and consequences of salinity variability. Contributions are invited on all aspects of ocean salinity variations from the perspective of in situ and satellite observations, numerical models, and data assimilation. The session will focus on the following themes: new oceanographic insights based on SMOS and Aquarius satellite data; new process-­based insights obtained from field studies; the role of salinity in thermohaline circulation, upper ­ocean stratification, and ocean dynamics; links between salinity variability and global and regional climate variability modes and the fingerprint of long­ term change; and the assimilation of salinity observations into ocean models.
Primary Chair:  Paul James Durack, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, United States
Chairs:  Nicolas Reul, IFREMER, Plouzané, France, Hailong Liu, University of Miami/CIMAS, NOAA/AOML, Miami, FL, United States and Kyla Drushka, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
Moderators:  Paul James Durack, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, United States and Hailong Liu, University of Miami/CIMAS, NOAA/AOML, Miami, FL, United States
Student Paper Review Liaison:  Hailong Liu, University of Miami/CIMAS, NOAA/AOML, Miami, FL, United States
Index Terms:

4504 Air/sea interactions [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4513 Decadal ocean variability [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4572 Upper ocean and mixed layer processes [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4594 Instruments and techniques [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
Co-Sponsor(s):
  • A - Air-sea Interactions and Upper Ocean Processes
  • IS - Instrumentation & Sensing Technologies
  • PC - Past, Present and Future Climate
  • TE - Tropical and Equatorial Environments

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

PO31B-01
Rainfall Imprint on Sea Surface Salinity in the ITCZ: new satellite perspectives (88207)
Jacqueline Boutin1, Nicolas Viltard2, Alexandre Supply1, Nicolas Martin1, Jean-Luc Vergely3, Claire Hénocq4 and Gilles P Reverdin5, (1)LOCEAN, Paris Cedex 05, France, (2)CNRS, LATMOS, PARIS, France, (3)ACRI-st, Sophia-Antipolis, France, (4)ACRI-st, France, (5)LOCEAN Univ Paris VI boite 100, Paris, France
PO31B-02
Upper-ocean Responses to Rainfall: Observations from Profiling Floats   (93475)
Jessica E Anderson, University of Washington Seattle Campus, Seattle, WA, United States and Stephen Riser, University of Washington, School of Oceanography, Seattle, WA, United States
PO31B-03
Freshwater Lenses, Double Diffusion, and Cabbeling in the Near-Surface Layer of the Ocean (93215)
Cayla Dean, NOAA/NOS/CO-OPS, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States, Alexander Soloviev, Nova Southeastern University, Dania Beach, FL, United States and Robert William Helber, Naval Research Lab, Stennis Space Center, MS, United States
PO31B-04
Role of continental discharge in ocean and climate dynamics through influence on ocean salinity (93400)
Hrishikesh Arvind Chandanpurkar, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, Stephen G Yeager, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, United States, John T Reager II, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States and James S Famiglietti, Global Institute for Water Security, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada; University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
PO31B-05
Small-Scale Salinity Variability from Thermosalinographs: A Global Perspective (92659)
Kyla Drushka and William Asher, University of Washington, Applied Physics Laboratory, Seattle, WA, United States
PO31B-06
Meso- to submesoscale surface thermohaline variability in Indian Ocean (89575)
Nicolas Kolodziejczyk, LOPS (UBO), Plouzane, France and Christophe Maes, Université Brest, Ifremer, CNRS, IRD, Laboratoire d ’Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), IUEM, Brest, France, Brest, France
PO31B-07
Signature of Mesoscale Eddies in Satellite Sea Surface Salinity Data (90543)
Oleg Melnichenko, Angel Miguel Amores Maimo, Nikolai A Maximenko, Peter W Hacker and James T Potemra, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, United States
PO31B-08
Eddy mixing in the subtropical surface salinity maximum regions  (88985)
Julius Johannes Marian Busecke, LDEO/Columbia University, NYC, NY, United States, Ryan P Abernathey, Lamont -Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY, United States and Arnold L Gordon, Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, NY, United States
See more of: Physical Oceanography/Ocean Circulation