Status of Aquarius/SAC-D and Aquarius Salinity Retrievals

Aquarius was launched in June 2011 to monitor the global salinity field in the open ocean. This radiometer/scatterometer (i.e., passive/active) instrument is part of the Aquarius/SAC-D mission, a partnership between the USA and Argentina. In general, the observatory and instruments have functioned well with mostly minor issues. Aquarius has been operating successfully since being turned on August 25, 2011. The quality of the salinity retrieval has improved continuously and is approaching the accuracy goal of 0.2 psu (monthly global RMS). The maps produced by Aquarius show the global structure and dynamic features of the salinity field and, now after 3 years of operations, data are available to give a first look at the interannual changes in sea surface salinity. An improved salinity product, Version 3.0, has been released to the public (June 2014) and includes significant refinements in the retrieval algorithm such as reduced ascending/descending differences and improved calibration. Additional data such as global maps of soil moisture and maps of RFI are also available.

[1]  Jacqueline Boutin,et al.  Active‐passive synergy for interpreting ocean L‐band emissivity: Results from the CAROLS airborne campaigns , 2014 .

[2]  David M. Le Vine,et al.  Aquarius: An Instrument to Monitor Sea Surface Salinity From Space , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[3]  C. Swift,et al.  An improved model for the dielectric constant of sea water at microwave frequencies , 1977 .

[4]  Remy Baraille,et al.  The HYCOM (HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model) data assimilative system , 2007 .

[5]  W. Linwood Jones,et al.  Aquarius/SAC-D Microwave Radiometer (MWR): Instrument description & brightness temperature calibration , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[6]  Simon Yueh,et al.  Estimates of Faraday rotation with passive microwave polarimetry for microwave remote sensing of Earth surfaces , 2000, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[7]  Jordi Font,et al.  SMOS and Aquarius/SAC-D Missions: The Era of Spaceborne Salinity Measurements is About to Begin , 2010 .

[8]  C. Swift,et al.  An improved model for the dielectric constant of sea water at microwave frequencies , 1977, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering.

[9]  D.M. Le Vine,et al.  L-band radiometry and reflection of the galaxy by a rough ocean surface , 2008, 2008 Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment.

[10]  Jacqueline Boutin,et al.  Issues concerning the sea emissivity modeling at L band for retrieving surface salinity , 2003 .

[11]  Emmanuel P. Dinnat,et al.  Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 1: Product description , 2014 .

[12]  Masanobu Shimada,et al.  PALSAR Radiometric and Geometric Calibration , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[13]  Jiancheng Shi,et al.  The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission , 2010, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[14]  Wenqing Tang,et al.  L-Band Passive and Active Microwave Geophysical Model Functions of Ocean Surface Winds and Applications to Aquarius Retrieval , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[15]  Simon Yueh,et al.  Error sources and feasibility for microwave remote sensing of ocean surface salinity , 2001, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[16]  Thomas Meissner,et al.  Upper ocean salinity stratification and rain freshening in the tropics observed from Aquarius , 2014, 2014 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[17]  Thomas J. Jackson,et al.  The Soil Moisture Active/Passive Mission (SMAP) , 2008, IGARSS 2008 - 2008 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[18]  Wenqing Tang,et al.  Aquarius Scatterometer Calibration , 2015, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[19]  David M. Le Vine,et al.  Version 1: Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document Aquarius Salinity Retrieval Algorithm , 2012 .

[20]  David M. Le Vine,et al.  Aquarius L-band Radiometers Calibration Using Cold Sky Observations , 2015, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[21]  Simon Yueh,et al.  Passive and Active L-Band Microwave Observations and Modeling of Ocean Surface Winds , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[22]  Emmanuel P. Dinnat,et al.  Weekly Gridded Aquarius L-band Radiometer-Scatterometer Observations and Salinity Retrievals over the Polar Regions - Part 2: Initial Product Analysis , 2014 .

[23]  Emmanuel P. Dinnat,et al.  Aquarius: Status and recent results , 2014 .

[24]  D.M. Le Vine,et al.  Galactic noise and passive microwave remote sensing from space at L-band , 2001, IGARSS 2001. Scanning the Present and Resolving the Future. Proceedings. IEEE 2001 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (Cat. No.01CH37217).

[25]  Jacqueline Boutin,et al.  Inter-comparison of SMOS and aquarius Sea Surface Salinity: Effects of the dielectric constant and vicarious calibration , 2014, 2014 13th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment (MicroRad).

[26]  Wenqing Tang,et al.  Aquarius Wind Speed Products: Algorithms and Validation , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[27]  Thomas Meissner,et al.  The emission and scattering of L‐band microwave radiation from rough ocean surfaces and wind speed measurements from the Aquarius sensor , 2014 .

[28]  Emmanuel P. Dinnat,et al.  Effect of Snow Surface Metamorphism on Aquarius L-Band Radiometer Observations at Dome C, Antarctica , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[29]  Simon Yueh,et al.  The Aquarius/SAC-D mission: Designed to meet the salinity remote-sensing challenge , 2008 .

[30]  David M. Le Vine,et al.  Impact of Sun Glint on Salinity Remote Sensing: An Example With the Aquarius Radiometer , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[31]  Alan Tanner,et al.  Ultra Stable Microwave Radiometers for Future Sea Surface Salinity Missions , 2002 .

[32]  Adriano Camps,et al.  The determination of surface salinity with the European SMOS space mission , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[33]  W. Linwood Jones,et al.  A roughness correction algorithm for aquarius using MWR , 2014, 2014 13th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment (MicroRad).

[34]  David M. Le Vine,et al.  Aquarius and Remote Sensing of Sea Surface Salinity from Space , 2010, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[35]  J. R. Piepmeier,et al.  Aquarius radiometer status , 2014, 2014 13th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment (MicroRad).

[36]  W. L. Jones,et al.  An oceanic rain flag for Aquarius , 2012, 2012 Oceans.

[37]  David M. Le Vine,et al.  The Aquarius Simulator and Cold-Sky Calibration , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[38]  Y. Kerr,et al.  The SMOS Mission: New Tool for Monitoring Key Elements of the Global Water Cycle This satellite mission will use new algorithms to try to forecast weather and estimate climate change from satellite measurements of the Earth's surface. , 2010 .

[39]  Emmanuel P. Dinnat,et al.  Aquarius whole range calibration: Celestial Sky, ocean, and land targets , 2014, 2014 13th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment (MicroRad).

[40]  Emmanuel P. Dinnat,et al.  The impact of the assimilation of Aquarius sea surface salinity data in the GEOS ocean data assimilation system , 2014 .

[41]  Thomas Meissner,et al.  The complex dielectric constant of pure and sea water from microwave satellite observations , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.