Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity 2011-2014 - Flat Maps

LEAD: Hurricane forecasters can now use ocean salinity to help them better predict hurricanes.1. NASA’s Aquarius satellite data shows how ocean salinity (saltiness) changes during the year. Bright orange indicates higher saltiness.2. Hurricane forecasters can now zero in on the huge floating plume of fresh water coming from the Amazon River, the world’s largest river. The thick plume acts as a potential hot plate to energize hurricanes.3. From 1960 to 2000, two-thirds of Category 5 hurricanes passed directly over the Amazon plume.TAG: The ability to map the Amazon plume more precisely with ocean salinity measurements from NASA’s Aquarius satellite will benefit hurricane forecasters.REFERENCESGrodsky, S., Reul, N., Lagerloef, G., et al. (2012). Haline hurricane wake in the Amazon/Orinoco plume. Geophysical Research Letters, (39).Grodsky, S., et al (2014). Year-to-Year Salinity Changes. Remote Sensing of Environment. (140). For More InformationSee [www.nasa.gov/aquarius](www.nasa.gov/aquarius) Related pages

3 years of sea surface salinity data displayed on a spinning globe focused on the northern hemisphere with date and color bar 3 years of sea surface salinity data displayed on a spinning globe (with grid lines) focused on the northern hemisphere with date and color bar 3 years of sea surface salinity data displayed on a spinning globe with date and color bar 3 years of sea surface salinity data displayed on a spinning globe (with grid lines) with date and color bar 3 years of sea surface salinity data displayed on a spinning globe focused on the northern hemisphere. No dates or color bar Print resolution still of the oceans around Africa Print resolution still of the oceans around Asia Print resolution still of the oceans around the Americas Aquarius color bar showing salinity range from 30 to 40 PSU, going from blue to green to red The Aquarius spacecraft is designed to measure global sea surface salinity. It is important to understand salinity, the amount of dissolved salts in water, because it will lead us to better understanding of the water cycle and can lead to improved climate models. Aquarius is a collaboration between NASA and the Space Agency of ArgentinaThis visualization celebrates over three years of successful Aquarius observations. Sea surface salinity is shown on a spinning globe (with and without grid lines).The range of time shown is September 2011 through September 2014. This visualization was generated based on version 3.0 of the Aquarius data products. For More InformationSee [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aquarius/news/](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aquarius/news/) Related pages

Flat map projection of Aquarius sea surface salinity Flat map projection of Aquarius sea surface salinity data with dates and colorbar Extended Mollweide projection of Aquarius sea surface salinity Extended Mollweide projection of Aquarius sea surface salinity with dates and colorbar Aquarius color bar showing salinity range from 30 to 40 PSU, going from blue to green to red. The Aquarius spacecraft is designed to measure global sea surface salinity. It is important to understand salinity, the amount of dissolved salts in water, because it will lead us to better understanding of the water cycle and can lead to improved climate models. Aquarius is a collaboration between NASA and the Space Agency of ArgentinaThis visualization celebrates over a year of successful Aquarius observations. Sea surface salinity is shown on a flat map using a simple cartesian and extended Molleide projections. Versions are included with and without dates/color bars.The range of time shown is December 2011 through Decemeber 2012. The data continuously loops through this range every 6 seconds. This visualization was generated based on version 2.0 of the Aquarius data products with all 3 scanning beams. For More InformationSee [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aquarius/news/data-first-year.html](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aquarius/news/data-first-year.html) Related pages

A narrated tour of Aquarius sea surface salinity data highlighting interesting features including: the North Atlantic, Eastern Pacific, Amazon outflow, Labrador current, and Indian Ocean.For complete transcript, click here.This video is also available on our YouTube channel. A Spanish language narrated tour of Aquarius sea surface salinity data highlighting interesting features including: the North Atlantic, Eastern Pacific, Amazon outflow, Labrador current, and Indian Ocean.For complete transcript, click here. A tour of Aquarius sea surface salinity data highlighting interesting features including: the North Atlantic, Eastern Pacific, Amazon outflow, Labrador current, and Indian Ocean. Print resolution still showing the salty North Atlantic. Print resolution still showing the low salinity region in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Print resolution still showing the massive outflow of fresh water from the Amazon River. Print resolution still showing the low salinity melt water transported near Greenland and Labrador. Print resolution still showing the higher salinity Western Indian Ocean compared to the low salinity Eastern Indian Ocean. Print resolution still showing the Atlantic Ocean. Print resolution still showing the Pacific Ocean. Aquarius color bar intended for the public. The salinity range is low to high, going from blue to green to red. Aquarius color bar intended for scientists. The salinity range is 30 to 40 PSU, going from blue to green to red. The Aquarius spacecraft is designed to measure global sea surface salinity. It is important to understand salinity, the amount of dissolved salts in water, because it will lead us to better understanding of the water cycle and can lead to improved climate models. Aquarius is a collaboration between NASA and the Space Agency of ArgentinaThis visualization celebrates over a year of successful Aquarius observations. Sea surface salinity is shown at various locations around the globe highlighting the following:the Atlantic Ocean is generally much more salty than the Pacificlow salinity waters in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific are transported westwardhigh influxes of fresh water from the Amazon River basin can be clearly seenlow salinity waters are transported by the Labrador current to the southhigh influxes of fresh water from the Ganges River basin can be seen keeping the Eastern Indian Ocean lower salinity than the Western Indian OceanThe range of time shown is December 2011 through Decemeber 2012. The data continuously loops through this range every 6 seconds. This visualization was generated based on version 2.0 of the Aquarius data products with all 3 scanning beams. For More InformationSee [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aquarius/news/data-first-year.html](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aquarius/news/data-first-year.html) Related pages

Aquarius spinning globe without dates and with public colorbar. Aquarius spinning globe with dates and with science colorbar Print resolution still of the Atlantic Ocean. Print resolution still showing the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Print resolution still of the Eastern Pacific. Print resolution still of the Western Pacific Ocean. Print resolution still of oceans around Africa. Aquarius color bar intended for the public. The salinity range is low to high, going from blue to green to red. Aquarius color bar intended for scientists. The salinity range is 30 to 40 PSU, going from blue to green to red. The Aquarius spacecraft is designed to measure global sea surface salinity. It is important to understand salinity, the amount of dissolved salts in water, because it will lead us to better understanding of the water cycle and can lead to improved climate models. Aquarius is a collaboration between NASA and the Space Agency of ArgentinaThis visualization celebrates over a year of successful Aquarius observations. Sea surface salinity in the northern hemisphere is shown as the globe slowly rotates. The data cycles through a single year, 2012, and repeats. Two versions of the visualization are provied: a version with dates and a scientific color bar and another version without dates and a simpler color bar. The range of time shown is December 2011 through Decemeber 2012. The data continuously loops through this range every 6 seconds. This visualization was generated based on version 2.0 of the Aquarius data products with all 3 scanning beams.http://The Aquarius spacecraft For More InformationSee [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aquarius/news/data-first-year.html](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aquarius/news/data-first-year.html) Related pages