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Assessing the Potential to Derive Air-Sea Freshwater Fluxes from Aquarius-Like Observations of Surface SalinityA state-of-the-art numerical model is used to investigate the possibility of determining freshwater flux fields from temporal changes io sea-surface salinity (SSS), a goal of the satellite salinity-measuring mission, Aquarius/SAC-D. Because the estimated advective temporal scale is usually longer than the Aquarius/SAC-D revisit time, the possibility of producing freshwater flux estimates from temporal salinity changes is first examined by using a correlation analysis. For the mean seasonal cycle, the patterns of the correlations between the freshwater fluxes and surface salinity temporal tendencies are mainly zonally oriented, and are highest where the local precipitation is also relatively high. Nonseasonal (deviations from the monthly mean) correlations are highest along mid-latitude moon tracks and are relatively small in the tropics. The complex correlation patterns presented here suggest that a global retrieval of the difference between evaporation and precipitation (E-P) from salinity changes requires more complex techniques than a simple consideration of local balance with surface forcing.
Document ID
20100031255
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Zhen, Li
(Science Applications International Corp. Beltsville, MD, United States)
Adamec, David
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
July 20, 2009
Publication Information
Publication: International Journal of Remote Sensing
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Volume: 30
Issue: 14
ISSN: 0143-1161
Subject Category
Oceanography
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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