Sea Surface Salinity Seasonal Variability in the Tropics from
Satellites, Gridded in situ Products and Mooring Observations
Abstract
Satellite observations of sea surface salinity (SSS) have been validated
in a number of instances using different forms of in situ data,
including Argo floats, moorings and gridded in situ products. Since one
of the most energetic timescales of variability of SSS is the seasonal,
it is important to know if satellites and in situ gridded products are
observing the seasonal variability correctly. In this study we validate
the seasonal SSS from satellite and in situ products using observations
from moorings in the global tropical moored buoy array. We utilize 6
different satellite products, and two different in situ gridded
products. For each product we have computed seasonal harmonics,
including amplitude, phase and fraction of variance (R2). These
quantities are mapped for each product and for the moorings. We also do
comparisons of amplitude, phase and R2 between moorings and all the
satellite and in situ products. Taking the mooring observations as
ground truth, we find general good agreement between them and the
satellite and in situ products, with near zero bias in phase and
amplitude and small root mean square differences. Tables are presented
with these quantities for each product quantifying the degree of
agreement.