Derivation of an experimental satellite-based T-S diagram

A preliminary attempt of deriving a purely satellite-based Temperature-Salinity (T-S) diagram is presented, with the overall aim of assessing to what extent is possible, and in which geographical areas, to identify and trace water masses by satellite. This has been performed by using recent SMOS and Aquarius satellite SSS products in conjunction with spaceborne SST data. A baseline T-S diagram is arranged from climatology data, differentiating 7 ocean zones and mapping them into the T-S domain. Therefore, a comparison with satellite data is carried out, highlighting, for this preliminary test, which are the most challenging zones and where, in turn, they mutually agree in a reasonable way.