scholarly journals Sea Surface Salinity Observations with Lagrangian Drifters in the Tropical North Atlantic During SPURS: Circulation, Fluxes, and Comparisons with Remotely Sensed Salinity from Aquarius

Oceanography ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Centurioni ◽  
◽  
Verena Hormann ◽  
Yi Chao ◽  
Gilles Reverdin ◽  
...  
2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1249-1267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunzai Wang ◽  
Liping Zhang ◽  
Sang-Ki Lee

Abstract The response of freshwater flux and sea surface salinity (SSS) to the Atlantic warm pool (AWP) variations from seasonal to multidecadal time scales is investigated by using various reanalysis products and observations. All of the datasets show a consistent response for all time scales: A large (small) AWP is associated with a local freshwater gain (loss) to the ocean, less (more) moisture transport across Central America, and a local low (high) SSS. The moisture budget analysis demonstrates that the freshwater change is dominated by the atmospheric mean circulation dynamics, while the effect of thermodynamics is of secondary importance. Further decomposition points out that the contribution of the mean circulation dynamics primarily arises from its divergent part, which mainly reflects the wind divergent change in the low level as a result of SST change. In association with a large (small) AWP, warmer (colder) than normal SST over the tropical North Atlantic can induce anomalous low-level convergence (divergence), which favors anomalous ascent (decent) and thus generates more (less) precipitation. On the other hand, a large (small) AWP weakens (strengthens) the trade wind and its associated westward moisture transport to the eastern North Pacific across Central America, which also favors more (less) moisture residing in the Atlantic and hence more (less) precipitation. The results imply that variability of freshwater flux and ocean salinity in the North Atlantic associated with the AWP may have the potential to affect the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1839 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Vazquez-Cuervo ◽  
Jose Gomez-Valdes ◽  
Marouan Bouali

Validation of satellite-based retrieval of ocean parameters like Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) is commonly done via statistical comparison with in situ measurements. Because in situ observations derived from coastal/tropical moored buoys and Argo floats are only representatives of one specific geographical point, they cannot be used to measure spatial gradients of ocean parameters (i.e., two-dimensional vectors). In this study, we exploit the high temporal sampling of the unmanned surface vehicle (USV) Saildrone (i.e., one measurement per minute) and describe a methodology to compare the magnitude of SST and SSS gradients derived from satellite-based products with those captured by Saildrone. Using two Saildrone campaigns conducted in the California/Baja region in 2018 and in the North Atlantic Gulf Stream in 2019, we compare the magnitude of gradients derived from six different GHRSST Level 4 SST (MUR, OSTIA, CMC, K10, REMSS, and DMI) and two SSS (JPLSMAP, RSS40km) datasets. While results indicate strong consistency between Saildrone- and satellite-based observations of SST and SSS, this is not the case for derived gradients with correlations lower than 0.4 for SST and 0.1 for SSS products.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estrella Olmedo ◽  
Carolina Gabarró ◽  
Verónica González-Gambau ◽  
Justino Martínez ◽  
Joaquim Ballabrera-Poy ◽  
...  

This paper aims to present and assess the quality of seven years (2011–2017) of 25 km nine-day Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) objectively analyzed maps in the Arctic and sub-Arctic oceans ( 50 ∘ N– 90 ∘ N). The SMOS SSS maps presented in this work are an improved version of the preliminary three-year dataset generated and freely distributed by the Barcelona Expert Center. In this new version, a time-dependent bias correction has been applied to mitigate the seasonal bias that affected the previous SSS maps. An extensive database of in situ data (Argo floats and thermosalinograph measurements) has been used for assessing the accuracy of this product. The standard deviation of the difference between the new SMOS SSS maps and Argo SSS ranges from 0.25 and 0.35. The major features of the inter-annual SSS variations observed by the thermosalinographs are also captured by the SMOS SSS maps. However, the validation in some regions of the Arctic Ocean has not been feasible because of the lack of in situ data. In those regions, qualitative comparisons with SSS provided by models and the remotely sensed SSS provided by Aquarius and SMAP have been performed. Despite the differences between SMOS and SMAP, both datasets show consistent SSS variations with respect to the model and the river discharge in situ data, but present a larger dynamic range than that of the model. This result suggests that, in those regions, the use of the remotely sensed SSS may help to improve the models.


2015 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Köhler ◽  
Meike Sena Martins ◽  
Nuno Serra ◽  
Detlef Stammer

1993 ◽  
pp. 623-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine Paterne ◽  
Jean-Claude Duplessy ◽  
Laurent Labeyrie ◽  
Maurice Arnold

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document