NASA Salinity: Home

Pioneering Salinity Measurements
Aquarius was NASA's first satellite-based instrument to detect sea surface salinity. Operating at the same wavelength, Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) was launched four years later in 2015. They have provided a continuous record of essential information on our ocean, water cycle, and climate. »

Pioneering Salinity Measurements »

Global Data
Aquarius and SMAP have produced a wealth of data products. In addition to salinity, maps of sea surface density, soil moisture, and radio frequency interference (RFI) are available in the Data Gallery. »

Global Data »

NASA Study Adds Salt to El Niño Models
When modeling the El Niño-Southern Oscillation ocean-climate cycle, adding saltiness significantly improves model accuracy. »

NASA Study Adds Salt to El Niño Models »

How Does Salinity Affect Our Lives?
Visit our "Highlights" section to learn about the societal relevance of salinity measurements. »

How Does Salinity Affect Our Lives? »

How Salty (or Fresh) Are You?
Take our four-question quiz to discover which habitat and organism most closely matches your own preferences. »

How Salty (or Fresh) Are You? »

Students studying the properties of water

"Learn More" About Salinity
Explore thematic salinity-related resources including hands-on activities, online activities, images, movies, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and articles. »

"Learn More" About Salinity »

Field Campaigns
NASA's salinity program spans from sea to space. For example, field campaigns have provided detailed insights into the processes that alter salinity by moving freshwater into and out of our ocean. »

Field Campaigns »

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 ATOMIC Field Campaign Dataset Release (30-July-20). The PO.DAAC is pleased to announce the availability of the NASA-funded Saildrone data as part of the Atlantic Tradewind Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Interaction Campaign (ATOMIC).

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.

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Recent Publications »

Jaeger, G., MacKinnon, J., Lucas, A., Shroyer, E., Nash, J., Tandon, A., Farrar, J., and Mahadevan, A. (2020). How Spice is Stirred in the Bay of Bengal

AMS

Akhil, V., Vialard, J., Lengaigne, M., Keerthi, M., Boutin, J., Vergely, J., and Papa, F. (2020). Bay of Bengal Sea Surface Salinity Variability Using a Decade of Improved SMOS Re-processing

Elsevier

Yu, L. (2020). Variability and Uncertainty of Satellite Sea Surface Salinity in the Subpolar North Atlantic (2010–2019)

MDPI

Bao, S., Wang, H., Zhang, R., Yan, H., and Chen, J. (2020). Spatial and Temporal Scales of Sea Surface Salinity in the Tropical Indian Ocean from SMOS, Aquarius and SMAP

Springer

Drushka, K., Gaube, P., Armitage, T., Cerovecki, I., Fenty, I., Fournier, S., Gentemann, C., Girton, J., Haumann, A., Lee, T., Mazloff, M., Padman, L., Rainville, L., Schanze, J., Springer, S., Steele, M., Thomson, J., and Wilson, E. (2020). A NASA High-latitude Salinity Campaign

Figshare

Grodsky, S.A., Reul, N., Vandemark, D., and Bentamy, A. (2020). Intramonth Oscillations of Atlantic ITCZ observed in SMAP Satellite Salinity

Taylor & Francis

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

AGU

Jaeger, G., MacKinnon, J., Lucas, A., Shroyer, E., Nash, J., Tandon, A., Farrar, J., and Mahadevan, A. (2020). How Spice is Stirred in the Bay of Bengal

AMS

Katsura, S. and Sprintall, J. (2020). Seasonality and Formation of Barrier Layers and Associated Temperature Inversions in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific

AMS

Liu, B., Wan, W., and Hong, Y. (2020). Can the Accuracy of Sea Surface Salinity Measurement be Improved by Incorporating Spaceborne GNSS-Reflectometry?

IEEE

Menezes, V. (2020). Statistical Assessment of Sea-Surface Salinity from SMAP: Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and a Promising Red Sea Application

MDPI

Molod, A., Hackert, E., Akella, S., Andrews, L., Arnold, N., Barahona, D., Borovikov, A., Cullather, R., Chang, Y., and Kovach, R. (2020). An Introduction to the NASA GMAO Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean System - GEOS-S2S Version 3

NASA

Qin, S., Wang, H., Zhu, J., Wan, L., Zhang, Y., and Wang, H. (2020). Validation and Correction of Sea Surface Salinity Retrieval from SMAP

Springer

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)

Elsevier

Roman‐Stork, H., Subrahmanyam, B., and Trott, C. (2020). Monitoring Intraseasonal Oscillations in the Indian Ocean Using Satellite Observations

AGU

See all publications