Principal Investigator: Dr. Eric Bayler NOAA/NESDIS/STAR Applications of SMOS Sea-surface Salinity Data to Improved Operational Modeling ESA Category-1 Project (C1F7182) Principal Investigator: Dr. Eric Bayler NOAA/NESDIS/STAR   FY12 STAR Report

Project Description Initial scope – Apply SMOS sea-surface salinity (SSS) data to: radiative transfer modeling near-real-time ocean modeling climate-scale modeling Initial duration – 2 years Enhanced scope – Research, development, and operational use of SMOS SSS in operational modeling, as well as in quasi-near-real time applications (physical and ecosystem) and in climatological predictions and data sets. The regional references identified in the original project are now extended to the global domain. SMOS Mission Manager authorized Expanding the project’s scope to encompass the breadth of NOAA’s mission, ensuring NOAA’s unrestricted access to the SMOS data stream Operational use of SMOS data, with the caveat that the SMOS program does not ensure operational reliability or continuity Extension of the project’s duration to the life of the SMOS mission, providing uninterrupted data access Precludes the need to submit subsequent limited-duration projects to gain data access.

SMOS SSS Data DATA AVAILABLE @ STAR Level-1B (swath radiances) 1-month rolling window Level-2 (swath SSS) Entire data record available Reprocessed (Jan 2010 – Dec 2011) Near-real-time stream Same processing as reprocessed data Original binary data extracted to ASCII files NOAA L3/4 (under development) Anticipate: SMOS-Barcelona Expert Centre (BEC) Level-3/4 IFREMER CATDS/CEC-OS Level-3/4 Server/Repository 24 TB storage STAR network machine External access via Linux and VPN accounts External Users NWS / Environmental Modeling Center Marine Modeling & Analysis Global Climate & Weather NWS / Climate Prediction Center NESDIS / National Oceanographic Data Center Marine Data Stewardship Division Ocean Climatology Laboratory

Data Assimilation Operational User Requests Leveraged Capability NWS/Environmental Modeling Center Marine Modeling & Analysis Real-Time Ocean Forecast System (RTOFS) Global Climate & Weather Modeling Global Ocean Data Assimilation System (GODAS) / Coupled Forecast System (CFS) Assimilation of Level-2 SSS data Leveraged Capability STAR S4 data assimilation R&D capacity at CIMSS Operational RTOFS model (HYCOM) ported to S4 STAR funded SSS data assimilation targeted for research, development, and transition

Blended Analysis of Surface Salinity (BASS) Objective: To develop an objective analysis of sea surface salinity (SSS) through blending information from in situ measurements as well as retrievals from Aquarius and SMOS satellite passive microwave observations. Covering the entire global oceans on a 1olat/lon grid Starting from (at least) January 2010 on a time resolution of monthly or finer Quantitative consistency with in situ based analysis for longer period Collaboration: NESDIS/STAR acquires / decodes / processes satellite retrievals NESDIS/NODC provides quality controlled in situ data NWS/CPC develops blending algorithm and products Two-Step Approach Bias correction for satellite retrievals Localized PDF matching against in situ measurements Blending in situ measurements and bias corrected satellite retrievals Optimal interpolation First Guess: Analysis for the previous time step Observations: In situ and satellite retrievals Similar to the strategy employed in the development of SST and precipitation merging algorithms

Blended Analysis of Surface Salinity (BASS) Top – PDF (%) of SSS from the in situ measurements (black) and the SMOS retrievals before (red) and after (green) the bias correction. Bottom - j Scatter plots between the percentile SSS values from the in situ data (Y-axis) and the SMOS retrievals (X-axis).

Passive Microwave Retrievals Sources of Tb Uncertainty due to SSS Satellite versus in situ observations Precipitation (freshwater lens) Evaporation in conjunction with significant surface heating Mixing Mechanical (wind speed) Convective Satellite SSS retrieval Permittivity model (SMOS model  Aquarius model) Spatial-averaging scheme for observation accuracy Temporal-averaging scheme for observation accuracy Application Permittivity model used in MW radiative transfer model SSS data source Representativeness of SSS data In situ (spatially-sparse, temporally-sparse) near-surface versus skin Pre-Argo climatology Argo-updated climatology Satellite (skin versus near-surface) Satellite-based climatology Quasi-near-real-time satellite SSS Merging scheme for mixed data sets Surface emissivity = f(SSS) Potential impact for MW: SST Precipitation Wind speed Atmospheric moisture profiles Atmospheric temperature profile Relevant Instruments Coriolis/Windsat GCOM-W1/AMSR-2 DMSP/SSMIS NOAA/AMSU NPP, JPSS/ATMS

Surface Brightness Temperature (Tb0) Difference: 6 GHz, 55°, v-pol (FASTEM4) (SMOS minus NODC’s World Ocean Atlas climatology) Feb Aug May Nov

Summary SMOS SSS data access obtained for all NOAA applications and operations for the life of the SMOS mission. The entire SMOS Level-2 SSS data record available via STAR User applications: Near-real-time ocean modeling NWS’s operational Real-Time Ocean Forecast System Seasonal-interannual ocean modeling NWS’s operational Global Ocean Data Assimilation System (GODAS) / Coupled Forecast System (CFS) Freshwater flux assessment NWS’s Climate Prediction Center Climatological data sets NESDIS’s National Oceanographic Data Center Upper-ocean heat content Sea-surface salinity Passive microwave radiometry NESDIS’s Center for Satellite Applications and Research Funding: All funding is “in-kind”; leveraged ORS funding for the SSS data server/repository Return on Investment Access to SMOS SSS data for the entirety of the SMOS mission life Access to SMOS SSS data for the breadth of NOAA’s mission research, development, and operational uses NWS Climate Prediction Center prototype SSS product for improving climate assessments of salinity and freshwater flux Operational User Requests submitted by NWS Real-Time Ocean Forecast System (RTOFS) Global Ocean Data Assimilation System / Coupled Forecast System (GODAS/CFS)

ESA #7182: SMOS SSS Data Exploitation at NOAA Scope: Research, development, and operational use of SMOS SSS in operational modeling, as well as in quasi-near-real time applications (physical and ecosystem) and in climatological predictions and data sets. Data: Access for life of SMOS mission, with permission to use operationally Complete SMOS Level-2 SSS data record available at NESDIS/STAR Applications: Seasonal-interannual ocean modeling NWS’s operational Global Ocean Data Assimilation System (GODAS) / Coupled Forecast System (CFS) Near-real-time ocean modeling NWS’s operational Real-Time Ocean Forecast System Freshwater flux assessment NWS’s Climate Prediction Center Blended analysis of surface salinity Climatological data sets NESDIS’s National Oceanographic Data Center Upper-ocean heat content Sea-surface salinity Passive microwave radiometry NESDIS’s Center for Satellite Applications and Research