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Encyclopedia of Remote Sensing pp 747–754Cite as

Sea Surface Salinity

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Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Introduction

Surface salinity is an ocean state variable that, along with temperature, controls the density of seawater and influences surface circulation and formation of dense surface waters in the higher latitudes which sink into the deep ocean and help drive the thermohaline circulation. The growing scientific need for global measurements stimulated the development of salinity-observing satellite sensors that have been launched in recent years. These are the European Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) and the US-Argentine Aquarius/SAC-D missions. Salinity remote sensing is possible because the dielectric properties of seawater which depend on salinity also affect the surface emission at certain microwave frequencies. Experimental heritage extends more than 35 years in the past, including laboratory studies, airborne sensors, and one instrument flown briefly in space on Skylab. Requirements for very low noise microwave radiometers and large antenna structures historically have...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ESR, Seattle, WA, USA

    Gary Lagerloef

Authors
  1. Gary Lagerloef
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

    Eni G. Njoku

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Lagerloef, G. (2014). Sea Surface Salinity. In: Njoku, E.G. (eds) Encyclopedia of Remote Sensing. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36699-9_165

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