Using saildrones to validate arctic sea-surface salinity from the smap satellite and from ocean models

The Arctic Ocean is one of the most important and challenging regions to observe—it experiences the largest changes from climate warming, and at the same time is one of the most difficult to sample because of sea ice and extreme cold temperatures. Two NASA-sponsored deployments of the Saildrone vehi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Remote Sensing
Main Authors: Vazquez-Cuervo, Jorge, Gentemann, Chelle, Tang, Wenqing, Carroll, Dustin, Zhang, Hong, Menemenlis, Dimitris, Gomez-Valdes, Jose, Bouali, Marouan, Steele, Michael
Format: Text
Language:unknown
Published: SJSU ScholarWorks 2021
Subjects:
Coastal
Sea surface salinity
Validation
Moss Landing Marine Laboratories
Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Yukon
Carroll
Sea ice
Yukon river
Online Access:https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/faculty_rsca/2426
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13050831
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/context/faculty_rsca/article/3425/viewcontent/remotesensing_13_00831_v2.pdf
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Summary:The Arctic Ocean is one of the most important and challenging regions to observe—it experiences the largest changes from climate warming, and at the same time is one of the most difficult to sample because of sea ice and extreme cold temperatures. Two NASA-sponsored deployments of the Saildrone vehicle provided a unique opportunity for validating sea-surface salinity (SSS) derived from three separate products that use data from the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite. To examine possible issues in resolving mesoscale-to-submesoscale variability, comparisons were also made with two versions of the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) model (Carroll, D; Menmenlis, D; Zhang, H.). The results indicate that the three SMAP products resolve the runoff signal associated with the Yukon River, with high correlation between SMAP products and Saildrone SSS. Spectral slopes, overall, replicate the-2.0 slopes associated with mesoscale-submesoscale variability. Statistically significant spatial coherences exist for all products, with peaks close to 100 km. Based on these encouraging results, future research should focus on improving derivations of satellite-derived SSS in the Arctic Ocean and integrating model results to complement remote sensing observations.

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