Aquarius and Remote Sensing of Sea Surface Salinity from Space

Author

Le Vine, David M. ; Lagerloef, Gary S E ; Torrusio, Sandra E.

Author_Institution

Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA

Volume

98

Issue

5

fYear

2010

fDate

5/1/2010 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

688

Lastpage

703

Abstract

Aquarius is an L-band radiometer and scatterometer instrument combination designed to map the salinity field at the surface of the ocean from space. The instrument is designed to provide global salinity maps on a monthly basis with a spatial resolution of 150 km and an accuracy of 0.2 psu. The science objective is to monitor the seasonal and interannual variation of the large scale features of the surface salinity field in the open ocean. This data will promote understanding of ocean circulation and its role in the global water cycle and climate. Aquarius is the primary instrument on the Aquarius/SAC-D mission which is a partnership between the space agencies in the USA (NASA) and Argentina (CONAE). Launch is scheduled for late in 2010.

Keywords

oceanographic equipment; oceanographic techniques; radiometry; Aquarius; Aquarius-SAC-D mission; Argentine space program; CONAE Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas program; Earth System Science Pathfinder program; L-band radiometer and scatterometer instrument combination; environment monitoring; global salinity maps; global water cycle; hazard detection; microwave radiometery; ocean circulation; sea surface salinity remote sensing; Instruments; L-band; Oceans; Radar measurements; Radiometry; Remote sensing; Sea surface; Sea surface salinity; Spaceborne radar; Spatial resolution; Microwave radiometery; microwave remote sensing; ocean salinity;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Proceedings of the IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9219

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPROC.2010.2040550

Filename

5453030