Coastal Summer Freshening and Meltwater Input off West Greenland from Satellite Observations
Coastal waters off west Greenland are strongly influenced by the input of low salinity water from the Arctic and from meltwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Changes in freshwater content in the region can play an important role in stratification, circulation, and primary production; however, invest...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:b07ee48f700744389330d3742fd75633 2023-05-15T15:13:42+02:00 Coastal Summer Freshening and Meltwater Input off West Greenland from Satellite Observations Renato M. Castelao Patricia M. Medeiros 2022-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14236069 https://doaj.org/article/b07ee48f700744389330d3742fd75633 EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/23/6069 https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292 doi:10.3390/rs14236069 2072-4292 https://doaj.org/article/b07ee48f700744389330d3742fd75633 Remote Sensing, Vol 14, Iss 6069, p 6069 (2022) sea surface salinity Labrador Sea Baffin Bay SMAP SMOS Science Q article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14236069 2022-12-30T20:11:30Z Coastal waters off west Greenland are strongly influenced by the input of low salinity water from the Arctic and from meltwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Changes in freshwater content in the region can play an important role in stratification, circulation, and primary production; however, investigating salinity variability in the region is challenging because in situ observations are sparse. Here, we used satellite observations of sea surface salinity (SSS) from the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission produced by LOCEAN and by the Barcelona Expert Center (SMOS LOCEAN and SMOS BEC) and from the Soil Moisture Active Passive mission produced by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (SMAP JPL) as well as by Remote Sensing Systems (SMAP RSS) to investigate how variability in a narrow coastal band off west Greenland is captured by these different products. Our analyses revealed that the various satellite SSS products capture the seasonal freshening off west Greenland from late spring to early fall. The magnitudes of the freshening and of coastal salinity gradients vary between the products however, being attenuated compared to historical in situ observations in most cases. The seasonal freshening off southwest Greenland is intensified in SMAP JPL and SMOS LOCEAN near the mouth of fjords characterized by large inputs of meltwater near the surface, which suggests an influence of meltwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Synoptic observations from 2012 following large ice sheet melting revealed good agreement with the spatial scale of freshening observed with in situ and SMOS LOCEAN data. Our analyses indicate that satellite SSS can capture the influence of meltwater input and associated freshwater plumes off coastal west Greenland, but those representations differ between products. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Greenland Ice Sheet Labrador Sea Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Baffin Bay Greenland Remote Sensing 14 23 6069 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
sea surface salinity Labrador Sea Baffin Bay SMAP SMOS Science Q |
spellingShingle |
sea surface salinity Labrador Sea Baffin Bay SMAP SMOS Science Q Renato M. Castelao Patricia M. Medeiros Coastal Summer Freshening and Meltwater Input off West Greenland from Satellite Observations |
topic_facet |
sea surface salinity Labrador Sea Baffin Bay SMAP SMOS Science Q |
description |
Coastal waters off west Greenland are strongly influenced by the input of low salinity water from the Arctic and from meltwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Changes in freshwater content in the region can play an important role in stratification, circulation, and primary production; however, investigating salinity variability in the region is challenging because in situ observations are sparse. Here, we used satellite observations of sea surface salinity (SSS) from the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission produced by LOCEAN and by the Barcelona Expert Center (SMOS LOCEAN and SMOS BEC) and from the Soil Moisture Active Passive mission produced by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (SMAP JPL) as well as by Remote Sensing Systems (SMAP RSS) to investigate how variability in a narrow coastal band off west Greenland is captured by these different products. Our analyses revealed that the various satellite SSS products capture the seasonal freshening off west Greenland from late spring to early fall. The magnitudes of the freshening and of coastal salinity gradients vary between the products however, being attenuated compared to historical in situ observations in most cases. The seasonal freshening off southwest Greenland is intensified in SMAP JPL and SMOS LOCEAN near the mouth of fjords characterized by large inputs of meltwater near the surface, which suggests an influence of meltwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Synoptic observations from 2012 following large ice sheet melting revealed good agreement with the spatial scale of freshening observed with in situ and SMOS LOCEAN data. Our analyses indicate that satellite SSS can capture the influence of meltwater input and associated freshwater plumes off coastal west Greenland, but those representations differ between products. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Renato M. Castelao Patricia M. Medeiros |
author_facet |
Renato M. Castelao Patricia M. Medeiros |
author_sort |
Renato M. Castelao |
title |
Coastal Summer Freshening and Meltwater Input off West Greenland from Satellite Observations |
title_short |
Coastal Summer Freshening and Meltwater Input off West Greenland from Satellite Observations |
title_full |
Coastal Summer Freshening and Meltwater Input off West Greenland from Satellite Observations |
title_fullStr |
Coastal Summer Freshening and Meltwater Input off West Greenland from Satellite Observations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Coastal Summer Freshening and Meltwater Input off West Greenland from Satellite Observations |
title_sort |
coastal summer freshening and meltwater input off west greenland from satellite observations |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14236069 https://doaj.org/article/b07ee48f700744389330d3742fd75633 |
geographic |
Arctic Baffin Bay Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Baffin Bay Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Greenland Ice Sheet Labrador Sea |
genre_facet |
Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Greenland Ice Sheet Labrador Sea |
op_source |
Remote Sensing, Vol 14, Iss 6069, p 6069 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/23/6069 https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292 doi:10.3390/rs14236069 2072-4292 https://doaj.org/article/b07ee48f700744389330d3742fd75633 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14236069 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
23 |
container_start_page |
6069 |
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1766344225821032448 |