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 largest changes from climate warming, at same time difficult sample because sea ice extreme cold temperatures. Two NASA-sponsored deployments Saildrone vehicle provided a unique opportunity for validating sea-surface salinity (SSS) derived three separate products that use data Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite. To examine possible issues in resolving mesoscale-to-submesoscale variability, comparisons were also made with two versions Estimating Circulation Climate (ECCO) model (Carroll, D; Menmenlis, Zhang, H.). results indicate SMAP resolve runoff signal associated Yukon River, high correlation between SSS. Spectral slopes, overall, replicate −2.0 slopes mesoscale-submesoscale variability. Statistically significant spatial coherences exist all products, peaks close 100 km. Based on these encouraging results, future research should focus improving derivations satellite-derived SSS integrating complement remote sensing observations.