Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations  and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 1: Product description

Brucker, Ludovic; Dinnat, Emmanuel P.; Koenig, L.

doi:10.5194/tc-8-905-2014

Cited by 20 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As with the radiometer, the amount of valid data considered in the weekly gridded product is lower for the descending orbits than the ascending orbits due to the RFI contamination (Fig. 1 in Brucker et al, 2014b).…”

Section: Ice Sheetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of note, Aquarius observations over the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) are less contaminated during ascending orbits (Brucker et al, 2014b). Over the Southern Ocean and Antarctic ice sheet (AIS), RFI contaminations are rare (Brucker et al, 2014b).…”

Section: Background On the Weekly Gridded Productsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Aquarius weekly polar-gridded products are described in detail in Brucker et al (2014b). Briefly, for TB, each radiometer is treated independently to produce three weekly gridded TB products corresponding to observations from the ascending orbit, the descending orbit, and both orbit types combined.…”

Section: Background On the Weekly Gridded Productsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These products contain data recorded at latitudes higher than 50 • , and are gridded on the Equal-Area Scalable Earth version 2.0 (EASE2.0) grid (Brodzik et al, 2012), with a grid cell resolution of 36 km, and a temporal resolution of 7 days (corresponding to the spacecraft period of revisit). For full details on this product see Part 1 of this two-part article series (Brucker et al, 2014b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to the radiometers, Aquarius operates a scatterometer which makes it possible to leverage coincident L-band active/passive observations. Brucker et al (2014b) developed weekly polar-gridded products of Aquarius TB and Normalized Radar Cross Section (NRCS) observations, and SSS retrievals. These products contain data recorded at latitudes higher than 50 • , and are gridded on the Equal-Area Scalable Earth version 2.0 (EASE2.0) grid (Brodzik et al, 2012), with a grid cell resolution of 36 km, and a temporal resolution of 7 days (corresponding to the spacecraft period of revisit).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 2: Initial product analysis

2014

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract.Following the development and availability of Aquarius weekly polar-gridded products, this study presents the spatial and temporal radiometer and scatterometer observations at L band (frequency ∼ 1.4 GHz) over the cryosphere including the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, sea ice in both hemispheres, and over sub-Arctic land for monitoring the soil freeze/thaw state. We provide multiple examples of scientific applications for the L-band data over the cryosphere. For example, we show that over the Greenland Ice Sheet, the unusual 2012 melt event lead to an L-band brightness temperature (TB) sustained decrease of ∼ 5 K at horizontal polarization. Over the Antarctic ice sheet, normalized radar cross section (NRCS) observations recorded during ascending and descending orbits are significantly different, highlighting the anisotropy of the ice cover. Over sub-Arctic land, both passive and active observations show distinct values depending on the soil physical state (freeze/thaw). Aquarius sea surface salinity (SSS) retrievals in the polar waters are also presented. SSS variations could serve as an indicator of fresh water input to the ocean from the cryosphere, however the presence of sea ice often contaminates the SSS retrievals, hindering the analysis. The weekly grided Aquarius L-band products used are distributed by the US Snow and Ice Data Center at http: //nsidc.org/data/aquarius/index.html, and show potential for cryospheric studies.

show abstract

Section: Ice Sheetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Background On the Weekly Gridded Productsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Background On the Weekly Gridded Productsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 2: Initial product analysis

2014

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Aquarius: Status and recent results

et al. 2014

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aquarius is a combination active/passive instrument at L band designed to map sea surface salinity globally from space. The radiometer (passive) is the primary instrument for retrieving salinity, and the scatterometer (active) provides information to correct for a major source of error, sea surface roughness (waves). In addition, the radiometer includes a number of special features designed to meet the goal for this challenging measurement, including measurement of the third Stokes parameter to help with the correction for Faraday rotation and rapid sampling to help with the mitigation of radio frequency interference. Aquarius was launched on 10 June 2011 aboard the Aquarius/SAC-D observatory and has been working well. The salinity retrieval continues to improve, and the special features suggest the potential for new applications of remote sensing from space at L band.

show abstract

Satellite observed salinity distributions at high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere: A comparison of four products

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Global surface ocean salinity measurements have been available since the launch of SMOS in 2009 and coverage was further enhanced with the launch of Aquarius in 2011. In the polar regions where spatial and temporal changes in sea surface salinity (SSS) are deemed important, the data have not been as robustly validated because of the paucity of in situ measurements. This study presents a comparison of four SSS products in the ice‐free Arctic region, three using Aquarius data and one using SMOS data. The accuracy of each product is assessed through comparative analysis with ship and other in situ measurements. Results indicate RMS errors ranging between 0.33 and 0.89 psu. Overall, the four products show generally good consistency in spatial distribution with the Atlantic side being more saline than the Pacific side. A good agreement between the ship and satellite measurements was also observed in the low salinity regions in the Arctic Ocean, where SSS in situ measurements are usually sparse, at the end of summer melt seasons. Some discrepancies including biases of about 1 psu between the products in spatial and temporal distribution are observed. These are due in part to differences in retrieval techniques, geophysical filtering, and sea ice and land masks. The monthly SSS retrievals in the Arctic from 2011 to 2015 showed variations (within ∼1 psu) consistent with effects of sea ice seasonal cycles. This study indicates that spaceborne observations capture the seasonality and interannual variability of SSS in the Arctic with reasonably good accuracy.

show abstract

Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 1: Product description

Cited by 20 publications

References 26 publications

Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 2: Initial product analysis

Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 2: Initial product analysis

Aquarius: Status and recent results

Satellite observed salinity distributions at high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere: A comparison of four products

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About