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Science Meetings

Application of the AQ Rain Accumulation Product for Investigation of Rain Effects on AQ Sea Surface Salinity Measurements
Santos-Garcia, A., Jacob, M., Jones, L. and Asher, W. (11-Nov-14)

This paper presents results of a recent empirical investigation into the impact of rain on the Aquarius (AQ) Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) measurements. Results demonstrate that AQ SSS measurements are realistic characterizations of a transient dilution of the surface salinity, but they are NOT representative of the bulk salinity at 5 m depth given by HYCOM. We believe that, during recent rain events, careful interpretation of AQ Level-2 (L-2) data is required, and as a result, the Rain Impact Model (RIM) product has been developed. It is available to AQ science users to promote the understanding of the relationship between precipitation and the corresponding AQ SSS measurement. This paper presents the description of RIM and comparisons between RIM and AQ L-2 SSS are presented for a number of rain events along the Pacific ITCZ (Inter-tropical Convergence Zone). Results demonstrate high correlation between RIM and AQ SSS for moderate to strong rain events that occurred within a few hours of the AQ observation time.