A sensor to measure salinity in the open ocean from space

Abstract

The salinity of the open ocean is important for understanding ocean dynamics and for modelling energy exchange with the atmosphere. But existing data are sparse and much of the ocean is unsampled. Sea surface salinity can be measured remotely with passive microwave sensors operating near 1.4 GHz (L-band). Salinity differences have been observed from space and aircraft instruments have demonstrated that salinity can be measured with an accuracy of better than 1 psu. Sensor technology has improved sufficiently to seriously propose a satellite system to map salinity over the open oceans.

Notes

An updated version of a paper originally presented at Oceans from Space ‘Venice 2000’ Symposium, Venice, Italy, 9–13 October 2000.