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Science Meetings

Comparison Analysis Between Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity and World Ocean Database In Situ Analyzed Sea Surface Salinity
Reagan, J.R., Boyer, T.P. and Antonov, J.I. (26-Feb-14)

The Aquarius level-3 monthly sea surface salinity (SSS) fields are compared to the World Ocean Database (WOD) derived SSS fields from September 2011 through December 2013. The WOD-derived fields were created through an objective analysis scheme utilizing WOD profile data. Only profiles in the aforementioned time domain (09/2011 - 12/2013) that had a salinity observation less than 5.25m from the surface were used. With two different products offering a global view of SSS at monthly time scales, a comparison analysis was conducted to look at global and regional differences as well as differences in the annual cycle. The annual cycle comparison was analyzed through a Fourier decomposition of the first full calendar year of Aquarius (i.e. 2012). Both monthly products were also compared to the World Ocean Atlas 2013 monthly SSS climatology. Interannual variability was also compared and analyzed. Further analysis investigated differences between daily L3 Aquarius SSS fields and WOD near-surface profiles through bi-linearly interpolating the daily Aquarius SSS data to profile locations.