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What's Next for Salinity?
[22-Feb-10] CLIVAR (Climate Variability and Predictability) is an international research effort focusing on the variability and predictability of the slowly varying components of the climate system. As part of the US contribution to CLIVAR, a Salinity Working Group was formed and charged with:
  • Describing the role of ocean salinity in the global water cycle, global ocean circulation, and climate variability
  • Identifying the requirements and challenges for analyzing, observing, and monitoring salinity, as well as simulating processes critical for determining the ocean's role in the transport and storage of salinity
  • Providing guidance to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (and the international community) on observational and scientific activities that should be considered in advance of, and during, the Aquarius mission to improve measurement, analysis, and use of salinity information for the above purposes
To achieve these goals, sessions on salinity were held at the 2006 and 2008 Ocean Sciences Meetings as well as a workshop at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in May 2006. In July 2007, a CLIVAR white paper on salinity was published (US CLIVAR Report No. 2007-1. The summary and principal recommendations of that report are provided here. Credit: CLIVAR Salinity Working Group.