Science Meetings

The Diurnal Cycle of Salinity
Drushka, K., Gille, S., and Sprintall, J. (12-Nov-14)

TAO mooring data are used to estimate the diurnal cycle of salinity in the tropics and to assess the drivers of diurnal salinity. A comparison against the Aquarius ascending and descending salinity observations reveals that the ascending/descending bias version 3.0 of Aquarius is generally an order of magnitude larger than the diurnal cycle in salinity at 1-m depth. A 1-d turbulence model is used to explore the relative roles of rain and wind in generating diurnal salinity variations.