1. 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

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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).

7. 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

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

9. 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)

10. 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