Sea surface salinity and temperature budgets in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre during SPURS experiment: august 2012-august 2013

• Published in: Frontiers in Marine Science
• Main Authors: Sommer, Anna, Reverdin, Gilles, Kolodziejczyk, Nicolas, Boutin, Jacqueline
• Other Authors: Interactions et Processus au sein de la couche de Surface Océanique (IPSO), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01496976; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01496976/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01496976/file/fmars-02-00107.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2015.00107

International audience Variability at large to meso-scale in sea surface salinity (SSS) and sea surface temperature(SST) is investigated in the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean during the SubtropicalAtlantic Surface Salinity Experiment Strasse/SPURS in August 2012—August 2013. Theproducts of the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission corrected from largescale systematic errors are tested and used to retrieve meso-scale salinity features,while OSTIA products, resolving meso-scale temperature features are used for SST.The comparison of corrected SMOS SSS data with drifter’s in situ measurements fromSPURS experiment shows a reasonable agreement, especially during winter time withRMS differences on the order of 0.15 pss (for 10 days, 75 km resolution SMOS product).The analysis of SSS (SST) variability reveals that the meso-scale eddies contribute to asubstantial freshening (cooling) in the central high salinity region of the subtropical gyre,albeit smaller than Ekman and atmospheric freshwater (heat) seasonal flux, which arethe leading terms in SSS (SST) budget. An error is estimated along with SSS and SSTbudgets; as well as sensitivity to the different products in use and residuals are discussed.The residuals in the SSS budget are large and can arise from errors in the advectionfields and freshwater flux, from neglected small scale or unresolved local processes (saltfingering, vertical mixing, and small scale subduction, etc.). However, their magnitude issimilar to what is often parameterized as eddy horizontal diffusion to close large scalebudgets.