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2017 Ocean Salinity Science Team Meeting

2017 Ocean Salinity Science Team Meeting
September 18-20, 2017
Arlington, VA

In September 2017, members of the Ocean Salinity Science Team (OSST) met in Arlington, VA for a three-day meeting. The objectives for the meeting were (1) a review of final recommendations for the Aquarius Version 5 data release, (2) evaluation of the Version 4.6 "testbed" product, (3) discussion of Calibration and Validation, and (4), analysis of scientific results, including results from SMAP and SMOS. In addition to these objectives, plans for documentation and ongoing OSST science objectives and plans were discussed.

Agenda
Documents (24)
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A Study of the Rain Impact Model (RIM) Under Different Wind Speed Conditions (Poster)
Jacob, M., Jones, L., Drushka, K., Asher, W., and Scavuzzo, M. (20-Sep-17). This poster presents a demonstration of the Rain Impact Model (RIM) for SMAP, SMOS and Aquarius, under a variety of conditions. The RIM-predicted salinity is found to agree with satellite-derived surface salinity. RIM can also provide a robust quality flag to identify areas of salinity stratification.

Achievements of Aquarius SSS for Ocean Sciences
Hacker, P., and Melnichenko, O. (17-Oct-17). A review of Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity achievements for ocean sciences, separated by topic area.

Adaptive Sampling of Rain and Ocean Salinity from Autonomous Seagliders (Poster)
Rainville, L., and Shilling, G. (20-Sep-17). Various platforms for observing freshwater anomalies, precipitation and rain events are evaluated in this poster, including sea gliders and acoustic rain sensors. Selective and adaptive sampling is possible by combining autonomous gliders and remote sensing.

Aquarius Scatterometer Calibration
Fore, A., Neumann, G., Freedman, A., Chaubell, M, Tang, W., Hayashi, A., and Yueh, S. (18-Sep-17). An analysis of scatterometer calibration for Aquarius.

Aquarius V5 Salinity Retrievals
Meissner, T. and Wentz., F. (18-Sep-17). A walkthrough of the differences in the Aquarius Version 5 data as compared to Version 5, including discussion of remaining biases.

Aquarius Validation Data System Results from Version 2 to Version 5
Kao, H-Y., Lageloef, G., and Carey, D. (18-Sep-17). Validation of Aquarius results from Version 2 data to Version 5 data showing the improved root square mean error across those versions.

Comparing V4.61 EVSCISM and V4.62 QLSM (Instrument-Based Calibration) L3 products
Lee, T. (20-Sep-17). Aquarius Version 4.61 QL is an instrument-based calibration that does not rely on HYCOM or Argo as a global reference and is compared to V6.61, with the goal of determining whether the V4.6QL should be included in the Version 5 release.

Dielectric Constant Retrieved from SMOS Multiangular Measurements: The Cardoid Model (Poster)
Boutin, J., Vergely, J.L., Waldteufel, P., Spurgeon, P., Dinnat, E., Zhou, Y. (20-Sep-17). Sea surface salinity (SSS) retrieved from L-band radiometry depends on the formulation chosen for modelling the dielectric constant of sea water. In this poster, the dielectric constant retrieved from SMOS brightness temperatures is compared with previous models.

Evaluation of Aquarius V3.0, V4.0, V4.61 SSS Using Argo Data
Lee, T. (18-Sep-17). Comparison of Argo data to Aquarius data, with a focus on the comparison of L3 (EV)SCISM monthly SSS products with Argo monthly, 1 degree gridded maps.

Geophysical Model Function of the Aquarius V5.0 Salinity Retrievals
Wentz, F., and Meissner, T. (18-Sep-17). This presentation provides an overview of the SMAP salinity instrument, the RSS SMAP Salinity Retrieval Algorithm, and compares SMAP salinity to data collected by Aquarius.

Investigating Interannual Freshwater Variability Along the NW Atlantic Shelf Using Satellite Salinity Data
Grodsky, S., Vandemark, D., Reul, N., Hunter, E., and Carton, J. (19-Sep-17). An investigation into the shelf region of the Northwestern Atlantic, focusing on an anomalous SSS signal impacted by freshwater inputs.

NASA Physical Oceanography Program
Lindstrom, E. (18-Sep-17). A report from the NASA Physical Oceanography Program, providing an overview of the Salinity Continuity Program, presented by Dr. Eric Lindstrom.

Regional Time Dependent Biases in the Aquarius Salinity Product and Options for Correction
Brown, S., and Misra, S. (18-Sep-17). This presentation investigates the Aquarius drift characterization and correction approach, including recommendations for which corrections to apply to V5 data.

Regional/Seasonal Biases in Aquarius SSS
Melnichenko, O., and Hacker, P. (18-Sep-17). A comparison of weekly Level-3 SSS with Argo buoy data with a focus on regional differences and spurious annual/semiannual signals.The ultimate goal is to characterize and quantify systematic biases and random errors in Aquarius SSS data to optimize the utility of the data for scientific research.

Seasonal Variability of Salinity in the Karimata Strait, Indonesia: In Situ and Satellite Observations
Susanto, R.D., Setiawan, A., Sulistyo, B., Adi, T.R., Agustiadi, T., Treggono, M., Triyono, A., Kuswardani, A. (19-Sep-17). To test the limit of satellite salinity performances, different satellite SSS products were compared with in situ observations in the challenging region of the Indonesian seas. In these areas, sustainable in situ observation is expensive and difficult, and it is desirable to find altearntive ways to measure water transport and flux. Ultimately, understanding the freshwater and salinity variability in this area will prove very important to global ocean circulation and climate.

SMOS and SMAP in Good Agreement After the Revision of SMOS/CATDS Systematic Errors Mitigation
Boutin, J. (19-Sep-17). This talk outlines a new method for mitigating SMOS systematic errors, and provides comparisons between SMOS salinity data and data from ship, moorings, the Argo interpolated field and SMAP.

Status of Salinity Remote Sensing from SMAP: NASA/RSS SMAP Salinity Product
Meissner, T., Wentz, F., Manaster, A., and Lindsley, R. (19-Sep-17). A comparison of SMAP and Aquarius salinity data, including an overview of the SMAP instrument and retrieval algorithm.

The Impact of Satellite Sea Surface Salinity for Prediction of the Coupled Indo-Pacific System
Hackert, E., Kovach, R., Ballabrera-Poy, J., Busalacchi, A.J., and Vernieres, G. (19-Sep-17). This talk examines the impact of Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) on coupled ENSO forecasts, using the Indo-Pacific ocean as its sampling area. The assimilation of Aquarius and SMAP SSS data was found to significantly improve coupled forecasts.

The Surface Salinity Front in the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean (Poster)
Ruiz-Etcheverry, L., Maximenko, N., and Melnichenko, O. (20-Sep-17). This poster includes three years of SSS observations from Aquarius to investigate the spatial structure, temporal variability, and driving dynamics of the frontal SSS feature in the equatorial Atlantic.

V4.6.0, V4.6.1, V4.6.2 AND V4.6.3
Hong, L. (18-Sep-17). A comprehensive walk-through of the iterations of the Version 4 Aquarius data. This includes radiometer calibration implements corrections derived against a forward model to compensate radiometer gain drifts and some other possible unknown (instrumental) behaviors.

Variability of the South Pacific Subtropical Surface Salinity Maximum
Bingham, F., Busecke, J., Gordon, A., Giulivi, C., and Li, Z. (19-Sep-17). The goal of this work was to update previous studies of the Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) maximum with more satellite data, and to use South Pacific SSS maximums as a comparison between satellite and in situ products.

Variations in Offshore Advection of Amazon-Orinoco Plume Waters Diagnosed with Satellite Salinity and Altimeter Data
Fournier, S., Vandemark, D., Gaultier, L., Lee, T., Jonsson, B., and Cierach, M. (19-Sep-17). It may be possible to monitor the spatial and temporal dispersal of the Amazon and Orinoco River plumes to evaluate their impact on boundary layer thickness and temperature variations, using Salinity, temperature, current and wind data.

Verifying Aquarius Calibration Drift Using In Situ Data
Lagerloef, G., and Carey, D. (18-Sep-17). We present a method to separate brightness temperature errors into a sensor calibration drift and signals attributed to geophysical corrections. Different calibration results were found with ocean target reference SSS (HYCOM and Argo analyzed fields) for seasonal to interannual timescale.

Very-Near Surface Salinity in the Intertropical Convergence Zone
Schanze, J.J. (19-Sep-17). This talk shares the design, methods and results of using a salinity "snake" during the SPURS I and II cruises to observe very near surface salinity.