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Science Meetings

Ocean Surface Water Exchange and Upper Ocean Salinity Balance
Liu, W.T. and Xie, X. (13-Nov-13)

We have derived ocean surface water exchanges from satellite data, both as divergence of integrated water transport in the atmosphere and as the difference between evaporation and precipitation. We have examined the balance of the surface water flux with the change of salinity storage and the salinity advection in the upper ocean. These two terms in the upper ocean are estimated using surface salinity from Aquarius and the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS), and from interpolated Argo data. The sum of salinity storage change and salinity advection calculated from both Aquarius and SMOS salinity, using ocean surface current data from the Ocean Surface Current Analysis Real-time (OSCAR), show better agreement with the surface water flux in the Pacific intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). In the midlatitude frontal regions such as Kuroshio Extension, the discrepancies among those terms from Aquarius, SMOS, Argo are significant.