Salt is essential. Circulating through our bodies and our seas, it impacts the health of people and the planet. Salt dissolved in seawater – measured as salinity – drives currents that distribute heat and carbon around the globe. So, salt not only preserves our food, it helps to preserve our climate by contributing to global ocean circulation.
Earth is an ocean planet. Key water cycle processes – precipitation and evaporation – mostly occur over the ocean. Thus, monitoring sea surface salinity patterns provides important clues about changes in our environment.
NASA observes salinity. Merging data from satellites and other instruments, our mission is to better understand ocean circulation, the water cycle, and climate.
Latest News »
NASA Saildrone Arctic Campaign Dataset Released (18-May-20). The PO.DAAC is pleased to announce the availability of the Saildrone Arctic field campaign data. New SPURS-2 Field Campaign Datasets Released (15-May-20). The PO.DAAC is pleased to announce the availability of additional datasets from the NASA SPURS-2 field campaign. NASA Study Adds a Pinch of Salt to El Niño Models (07-Apr-20).
Recent Publications »
Wu., Q., Wang, X., Liang, W., and Zhang, W. (2020). Validation and Application of Soil Moisture Active Passive Sea Surface Salinity Observation over the Changjiang River Estuary Supply, A., Boutin, J., Reverdin, G., Vergely, J.L., and Bellenger, H. (2020). Variability of Satellite Sea Surface Salinity Under Rainfall Qin, S., Wang, H., Zhu, J., Wan, L., Zhang, Y., and Wang, H. (2020). Validation and Correction of Sea Surface Salinity Retrieval from SMAP Hackert, E., Kovach, R.M., Molod, A., Vernieres, G., Borovikov, A., Marshak, J., and Chang, Y. (2020). Satellite Sea Surface Salinity Observations Impact on El Niño/Southern Oscillation Predictions: Case Studies From the NASA GEOS Seasonal Forecast System Reul, N., Grodsky, S., Arias., M., Boutin, J., Catany, R., Chapron, B., D'Amico, F., Dinnat, E., Donlon, C., Fore, A., Fournier, S., Guimbard, S., Hasson, A., Kolodziejczyk, N., Lagerloef, G., Lee, T., Le Vine, D., Lindstrom, E., Maes, C., Mecklenburg, S., Meissner, T., Olmedo, E., Sabia, R., Tenerelli, J., Thouvenin-Masson, C., Turiel, A., Vergely, J., Wentz, and Yueh, S. (2020). Sea Surface Salinity Estimates from Spaceborne L-band Radiometers: An Overview of the First Decade of Observation (2010–2019)
