Satellite-Observed Time and Length Scales of Global Sea Surface Salinity Variability: A Comparison of Three Satellite Missions
Sea surface salinity (SSS) observations from Aquarius, Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS), and Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite missions are compared to characterize the time and length scales of SSS variability globally. Overall, there is general agreement between the global patte...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:b7764c9bf6b24ad7ba7561f169afc02b 2023-05-15T18:25:55+02:00 Satellite-Observed Time and Length Scales of Global Sea Surface Salinity Variability: A Comparison of Three Satellite Missions Daling Li Yi Oleg Melnichenko Peter Hacker Ke Fan 2022-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14215435 https://doaj.org/article/b7764c9bf6b24ad7ba7561f169afc02b EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/21/5435 https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292 doi:10.3390/rs14215435 2072-4292 https://doaj.org/article/b7764c9bf6b24ad7ba7561f169afc02b Remote Sensing, Vol 14, Iss 5435, p 5435 (2022) sea surface salinity decorrelation scale Aquarius SMAP SMOS Science Q article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14215435 2022-12-30T20:23:06Z Sea surface salinity (SSS) observations from Aquarius, Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS), and Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite missions are compared to characterize the time and length scales of SSS variability globally. Overall, there is general agreement between the global patterns of the time and length scales of SSS variability estimated from the three satellite missions. The temporal scales of SSS variability vary from more than 90 days in the tropics to ~15 days in the Southern Ocean. The very short temporal scales (close to the Nyquist period) in some parts of the ocean are probably due to the high level of noise in the satellite data or the high noise-to-signal ratio. The longest temporal scales are observed along the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) and in the central and western tropical Pacific. These areas are also related to the strongest ENSO-related signal in SSS. The processes governing the SSS variability and distribution are also non-stationary, such that the scales determined over different observation periods may differ. Dominant spatial scales of SSS variability are generally the longest (up to 150 km) in the tropics and the shortest (<60 km) in the subpolar regions. The distribution of the dominant spatial scales is not simply latitudinal but exhibits a more complex spatial pattern. In the tropics, there is slight east-west and inter-hemispheric asymmetry observed in the Pacific but absent in the other two oceans. The analysis also reveals that the length scales of SSS variability are highly anisotropic in the tropics (the zonal scales are generally shorter than the meridional ones) and become more isotropic towards higher latitudes. Regional differences in the estimates of the scales from the three satellite SSS datasets may arise due to differences in the observation duration, spatial resolution and/or different level of noise. Article in Journal/Newspaper Southern Ocean Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Pacific Southern Ocean Remote Sensing 14 21 5435 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
sea surface salinity decorrelation scale Aquarius SMAP SMOS Science Q |
spellingShingle |
sea surface salinity decorrelation scale Aquarius SMAP SMOS Science Q Daling Li Yi Oleg Melnichenko Peter Hacker Ke Fan Satellite-Observed Time and Length Scales of Global Sea Surface Salinity Variability: A Comparison of Three Satellite Missions |
topic_facet |
sea surface salinity decorrelation scale Aquarius SMAP SMOS Science Q |
description |
Sea surface salinity (SSS) observations from Aquarius, Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS), and Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite missions are compared to characterize the time and length scales of SSS variability globally. Overall, there is general agreement between the global patterns of the time and length scales of SSS variability estimated from the three satellite missions. The temporal scales of SSS variability vary from more than 90 days in the tropics to ~15 days in the Southern Ocean. The very short temporal scales (close to the Nyquist period) in some parts of the ocean are probably due to the high level of noise in the satellite data or the high noise-to-signal ratio. The longest temporal scales are observed along the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) and in the central and western tropical Pacific. These areas are also related to the strongest ENSO-related signal in SSS. The processes governing the SSS variability and distribution are also non-stationary, such that the scales determined over different observation periods may differ. Dominant spatial scales of SSS variability are generally the longest (up to 150 km) in the tropics and the shortest (<60 km) in the subpolar regions. The distribution of the dominant spatial scales is not simply latitudinal but exhibits a more complex spatial pattern. In the tropics, there is slight east-west and inter-hemispheric asymmetry observed in the Pacific but absent in the other two oceans. The analysis also reveals that the length scales of SSS variability are highly anisotropic in the tropics (the zonal scales are generally shorter than the meridional ones) and become more isotropic towards higher latitudes. Regional differences in the estimates of the scales from the three satellite SSS datasets may arise due to differences in the observation duration, spatial resolution and/or different level of noise. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Daling Li Yi Oleg Melnichenko Peter Hacker Ke Fan |
author_facet |
Daling Li Yi Oleg Melnichenko Peter Hacker Ke Fan |
author_sort |
Daling Li Yi |
title |
Satellite-Observed Time and Length Scales of Global Sea Surface Salinity Variability: A Comparison of Three Satellite Missions |
title_short |
Satellite-Observed Time and Length Scales of Global Sea Surface Salinity Variability: A Comparison of Three Satellite Missions |
title_full |
Satellite-Observed Time and Length Scales of Global Sea Surface Salinity Variability: A Comparison of Three Satellite Missions |
title_fullStr |
Satellite-Observed Time and Length Scales of Global Sea Surface Salinity Variability: A Comparison of Three Satellite Missions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Satellite-Observed Time and Length Scales of Global Sea Surface Salinity Variability: A Comparison of Three Satellite Missions |
title_sort |
satellite-observed time and length scales of global sea surface salinity variability: a comparison of three satellite missions |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14215435 https://doaj.org/article/b7764c9bf6b24ad7ba7561f169afc02b |
geographic |
Pacific Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Pacific Southern Ocean |
genre |
Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Remote Sensing, Vol 14, Iss 5435, p 5435 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/21/5435 https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292 doi:10.3390/rs14215435 2072-4292 https://doaj.org/article/b7764c9bf6b24ad7ba7561f169afc02b |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14215435 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
21 |
container_start_page |
5435 |
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1766207651502358528 |