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...
Published in: | Remote Sensing |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14215435 |
id |
ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2072-4292/14/21/5435/ |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2072-4292/14/21/5435/ 2023-08-20T04:09:58+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 agris 2022-10-28 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14215435 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Ocean Remote Sensing https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs14215435 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Remote Sensing; Volume 14; Issue 21; Pages: 5435 sea surface salinity decorrelation scale Aquarius SMAP SMOS Text 2022 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14215435 2023-08-01T07:05:49Z 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. Text Southern Ocean MDPI Open Access Publishing Southern Ocean Pacific Remote Sensing 14 21 5435 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
sea surface salinity decorrelation scale Aquarius SMAP SMOS |
spellingShingle |
sea surface salinity decorrelation scale Aquarius SMAP SMOS 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 |
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 |
Text |
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 |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14215435 |
op_coverage |
agris |
geographic |
Southern Ocean Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean Pacific |
genre |
Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Remote Sensing; Volume 14; Issue 21; Pages: 5435 |
op_relation |
Ocean Remote Sensing https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs14215435 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14215435 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
21 |
container_start_page |
5435 |
_version_ |
1774723791124955136 |