Global analysis of sea surface salinity variability from satellite data

An integral model of the oceanic mixed layer is used to estimate the sea surface salinity anomalies caused by atmospheric heat fluxes, evaporation-precipitation budget, wind friction and geostrophic circulation. Input parameters are air-sea fluxes, wind stress, sea surface temperature from a meteorological model and geostrophic velocity derived from several altimeters measurements. The model is tested using daily climatological forcing fields, in terms of amplitude and spatial distribution of the salinity response. The horizontal transport variations are the first cause of salinity variability, but that the fresh water flux or the deep mixing can dominate locally.