edu.ucar.opensky::articles:16771 UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact 2025-12-26T03:08:25.759813 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7ks6sr0 An initial estimate of the global distribution of diurnal variation in sea surface salinity 2015-05-27T00:00:00Z publication https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7ks6sr0 https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JC010483 Fine, Elizabeth author Bryan, Frank O. author Large, William G. author Bailey, David A. author UCAR/NCAR - Library publisher Diurnal variations in sea surface salinity (SSS) have been observed at a few selected locations with adequate in situ instrumentation. Such variations result primarily from imbalances between surface freshwater fluxes and vertical mixing of deeper water to the surface. New observations becoming available from satellite salinity remote sensing missions could help to constrain estimates of diurnal variations in air-sea exchange of freshwater, and provide insight into the processes governing diurnal variability of mixing processes in the upper ocean. Additionally, a better understanding of variation in near surface salinity is required to compare satellite measured SSS with in situ measurements at a few meters depth. The diurnal SSS variations should be reflected as differences between ascending and descending pass retrievals from the Aquarius and SMOS satellites; however, the diurnal signal can be masked by inadequacies of the geophysical corrections used in processing the satellite measurements. In this study, we quantify the expected range of diurnal SSS variations using a model developed for predicting diurnal sea surface temperature variations. We present estimates for the mean and variance of the global diurnal SSS cycle, contrasting it with the diurnal cycle of sea surface temperature. We find the SSS diurnal cycle can be significant throughout the tropics, with mean amplitudes of up to 0.1 psu in areas with heavy precipitation. Predicted maximum diurnal ranges approach 2 psu in select regions. Surface freshening in Aquarius salinity retrievals is shown to be larger for ascending than descending passes, consistent with the expectations from the model simulation. UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact PDF Text theme Resource Type 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z publication Copyright 2015 American Geophysical Union. None eng geoscientificInformation