Vertical Variability of Near-Surface Salinity in the Tropics: Consequences for L-Band Radiometer Calibration and Validation

Abstract Two satellite missions are planned to be launched in the next two years; the European Space Agency (ESA) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Aquarius missions aim at detecting sea surface salinity (SSS) using L-band radiometry (1.4 GHz). At that frequency, the skin depth is on the order of 1 cm. However, the calibration and validation of L-band-retrieved SSS will be done with in situ measurements, mainly taken at 5-m depth. To anticipate and understand vertical salinity differences in the first 10 m of the ocean surface layer, in situ vertical profiles are analyzed. The influence of rain events is studied. Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) moorings, the most comprehensive dataset, provide measurements of salinity taken simultaneously at 1, 5, and 10 m and measurements of rain rate. Then, observations of vertical salinity differences, sorted according to their vertical levels, are expanded through the tropical band (30°S–30°N) using thermosalinographs (TSG), floats, expendable conductivity–temperature–depth (XCTD), and CTD data. Vertical salinity differences higher than 0.1 pss are observed in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, mainly between 0° and 15°N, which coincides with the average position of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). Some differences exceed 0.5 pss locally and persist for more than 10 days. A statistical approach is developed for the detection of large vertical salinity differences, knowing the history of rain events and the simultaneous wind intensity, as estimated from satellite measurements.