No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Highlights Sea surface salinity retrieved from SMAP radiometer is validated with in situ data  SMAP achieved 0.2 PSU accuracy on a monthly basis in tropics comparing with Argo OI  SMAP can track large salinity changes occurred within a month consistent with buoy  SMAP SSS retrieved in Mediterranean sea and BOB assessed with ship TSG and Argo STS Highlights (for review) Abstract 11 12 Sea surface salinity (SSS) retrieved from SMAP radiometer measurements is validated 13 with in situ salinity measurements collected from Argo floats, tropical moored buoys and 14 ship-based thermosalinograph (TSG) data. SMAP SSS achieved accuracy of 0.2 PSU on a 15 monthly basis in comparison with Argo gridded data in the tropics and mid--16 latitudes. In tropical oceans, time series comparison of salinity measured at 1 m by 17 moored buoys indicates that SMAP can track large salinity changes occurred within a 18 month. Synergetic analysis of SMAP, SMOS and Argo data allows us to identify and 19 exclude erroneous jumps or drift in some real--time buoy data from assessment of 20 satellite retrieval. The resulting SMAP--buoy matchup analysis leads to an average 21 standard deviation of 0.22 PSU and correlation coefficient of 0.73 on weekly scale; the 22 average standard deviation reduced to 0.17 PSU and the correlation improved to 0.8 on 23 monthly scale. SMAP L3 daily maps reveals salty water intrusion from the Arabian Sea 24 into the Bay of Bengal during the Indian summer monsoon, consistent with the daily 25 *Manuscript Click here to download Manuscript: SMAP_SSS_validation_RSE.pdf 29