2026 Ocean Salinity Science & Technology Meeting


19-21 May 2026, Seattle, Washington, USA

Program

TUESDAY 19 MAY 2026
8:30-8:35 Peter Gaube
UW-APL, USA
Welcoming Remarks
8:35-8:55 Nadya Vinogradova-Shiffer
NASA, USA
NASA Ocean Physics
8:55-9:15 Roberto Sabia
ESA, Italy
ESA Program Status
9:15-9:30 Annette deCharon
ODYSEA, USA
NASA Salinity Website and StoryMaps
9:30-9:35 Tony Lee/Severine Fournier Meeting Agenda and Discussion Guide
10:00-10:30 Lisan Yu
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA
Keynote - Where Salinity Takes Control: The Meso-Submesoscale Thermohaline Transition and the Need for 10-km Salinity Sensing
10:05-10:30 Coffee Break / Poster Session
10:30-11:00 SESSION: Summer 2027 in the Arctic
Chair: Julian Schanze
10:30-10:45 Gesine Mollenhauer
Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany
Research with the RV Polarstern in the Canadian Beaufort Sea in 2027 (Beau PAIR)
10:45-11:00 Peter Gaube
University of Washington-APL, USA
FRESH Arctic Kick-off: Fate of River Export and Surface Hydrology
11:00-16:15 SESSION: Arctic Processes
Chairs: Marie Zahn and Carlyn Schmidgall
11:00-11:15 Semyon Grodsky
University of Maryland, USA
On the Link Between Chukchi Sea SSS and Bering Strait Inflow
11:15-11:30 Joan Bergas-Ques
ICM-CSIC, Spain
Exploring Salinity and Density Fluxes Variability in the Nordic Seas Through New Satellite Products: Insights from ESA's Polar Science Cluster ARCTIC-FLOW Project
11:30-11:45 Chao Liu
CNRS, IFREMER, Franc
Satellite-informed Reconstruction of Upper-Ocean Freshwater Content Variability in the Barents Sea
11:45-12:00 Maria Tzortziou
The City College of New York, USA
FORTE: NASA Earth Venture Suborbital Mission
12:00-13:30 LUNCH
13:30-13:45 Peter Gaube
University of Washington-APL, USA
Salinity Science at the Sea Ice Edge
13:45-14:00 Mike Steele
University of Washington-APL, USA
MicroSWIFT Buoys Measure SST and SSS in the Alaskan Arctic
14:00-14:15 Fred Bingham
University of North Carolina Wilmington, USA
Float Observations in the Beaufort Sea - Preliminary Results
14:15-14:30 Anastasia Piliouras
Penn State University, USA
Estimating Flow and Transport Through Arctic Deltas with Network-based Modeling
14:30-14:45 Wayana Dolan
U.S. Geological Survey, USA
Let's Connect! Tracking the Connectivity-Associated Movement of Water and Sediment Through Arctic Deltas Using Optical Satellite Imagery
14:45-15:00 Ben Kopec
Michigan Technological University, USA
High Resolution Freshwater Partitioning with Continuous Seawater Isotopic (δ18O, δ2H) tracing
15:00-15:30 Coffee Break / Poster Session
15:30-15:45 Jim Thomson
University of Washington-APL, USA
Drifting and Moored Observations of Coastal River Plumes Along the North Slope of Alaska
15:45-16:00 Marie Zahn
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA
Riverine Freshwater Effects on Fall Sea Ice Freeze-Up in the Beaufort Sea
16:00-16:15 Dimitris Menemenlis
San Jose State University, USA
Sea Surface Salinity in the ECCO llc4320v2 Global-Ocean-Ice-River-Tides Simulation
16:15-17:00 Discussion
Leads: Julian Schanze and Severine Fournier
WEDNESDAY 20 MAY 2026
8:30-12:00 SESSION: Mission, Sensors, and Retrievals
Chair: Tony Lee
8:30-8:45 Nicolas Reul
IFREMER/LOPS, France
The Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR) Mission
8:45-9:00 Jacqueline Boutin
LOCEAN/CNRS, France
Beyond L-Band: Wideband (0.4–2 GHz) Radiometry for Observing Surface Salinity in Cold Seawater
9:00-9:15 Alex Akins
NASA/Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA
A Promising Avenue for High-Resolution Remote Sensing of SSS from Space
9:15-9:30 Nemesio Rodriguez-Fernandez
CNRS, CESBIO, France
The Fine Resolution Explorer for Salinity, Carbon and Hydrology (FRESCH) L-band Mission
9:30-9:45 Veronica Gonzalez-Gambau
BEC, ICM-CSIC, Spain
Assessing CryoRad Mission Performance Using an End-to-End Simulator for Wideband Ocean Salinity Retrieval
9:45-10:00 Liu Hao
National Space Science Center, China
The First Year In-Orbit Performances of MICAP (Microwave Imager Combined Active and Passive) Onboard Chinese Ocean Salinity Satellite
10:45-11:00 Sidharth Misra
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA
Coastal and Polar Salinity Remote Sensing Solutions – Near-surface, Airborne, and Spaceborne
11:00-12:00 Discussion
Leads: Tony Lee and Alex Akins
12:00-13:30 LUNCH
13:30-17:00 SESSION: Open Ocean Processes
Chair: Clovis Thouvenin
13:30-13:45 Nicolas Reul
IFREMER/LOPS, France
Thermo-haline Surface Signatures of the Gulf Stream Eddies: Statistics Based on Historical Satellite SSS Data
13:45-14:00 Antoine Hochet The Role of Large-Scale Seasonal Cycle Advection in Maintaining the Mean Ocean Salinity Distribution
14:00-14:15 Laifang Li
Pennsylvania State University, USA
Sea Surface Salinity Signatures Precedent the Pineapple Express and the Implications for Rainfall Prediction Beyond Weather Time
14:15-14:30 Ray Schmitt
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA
On the Stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation in our Warming Climate
14:45-15:00 Justin Small
NSF NCAR, USA
Comparisons of Salinity and Temperature Budgets in the Upper Ocean
15:00-15:15 Subra Bulusu
University of South Carolina, USA
Coupled Salinity–Temperature Extremes and Upper-Ocean Stratification During Marine Heatwaves in the Northwest Atlantic
15:15-15:30 Aneesh Subramaniam
University of Colorado Boulder, USA
Satellite Sea Surface Salinity Assimilation Improves the Representation of Upper-Ocean Thermohaline Structure and Variability in the NASA GEOS S2S 2 Model
15:30-15:45 Shineng Hu
Duke University, USA
Salinity-Induced Eastward Flow in Boreal Spring Favors Extreme El Niño
15:45-16:00 Tony Lee
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA
Attribution of Freshening in the Central Equatorial Pacific Ocean during El Niño
16:15-17:00 Discussion
Leads: Clovis Thouvenin and Sreelekha Jarugula
THURSDAY 21 MAY 2026
8:30-12:00 SESSION: Salinity Products and Cal/Val
Chair: Roberto Sabia
8:30-8:45 Gael Alory
LEGOS, France
Near Real Time Processing of Underway Salinity Data from Ships of Opportuniy
8:45-9:00 Florian Le Guillou
Datlas, France
VarDyn High Res. SSS
9:00-9:15 Fabrice Bonjean
LOCEAN/CNRS, France
CCI+SSS: Enhancing Observations of Sea Surface Salinity to Meet Climate Challenges
9:15-9:30 Oleg Melnichenko
Earth & Space Research, USA
Recent Updates to the Multi-Mission Sea Surface Salinity Optimum Interpolation (OISSS) Analysis Version 3
9:30-9:45 Estrella Olmedo
ICM-CSIC, Spain
CCI-OSHF: A New ESA Climate Change Initiative to Enhance Ocean Surface Heat Fluxes Estimates
9:45-10:15 Coffee Break / Poster Session
10:15-10:30 Thomas Meissner
Remote Sensing Systems, USA
Detection and Flagging of Radio Frequency Interference Contamination in SMAP Ocean Observations
10:30-10:45 Julian Schanze
Earth & Space Research, USA
Towards SSS Fiduciary Reference Measurements: An Overview of Sub-Footprint Variability, Stratification, and Calibration-Validation Methods
10:45-12:00 Discussion
Leads: Jesse Anderson and Roberto Sabia
12:00-13:30 LUNCH
13:30-16:45 SESSION: Coastal Ocean Processes
Chair: Fred Bingham
13:30-13:45 Jamie Shutler
University of Exeter, UK
Salinity is Critical for Ocean Carbon Cycle and Ocean Acidification Assessments (and Climate Policy!)
13:45-14:00 Scott Durski
Oregon State University, USA
Assessment of Salinity Variability in the Bering Sea from Satellite-based Observations, Argo floats and a Coupled Ice-ocean Model
14:00-14:15 Clovis Thouvenin
LEGOS, France
Characterization of Surface Salinity Variability in Gulf of Mexico
14:15-14:30 Dipanjan Chaudhuri
University of Washington-APL, USA
The Radiative Trap: How River Water Modulates Equatorial Ocean Heat Uptake
14:30-14:45 Sreelekha Jarugula
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA
Coastal Salinity: A Proxy for Human and Natural Hydrological Cycle Change
14:45-15:00 Alexander Kurapov
NOAA NOS/OCS/CSDL/CMMB, USA
Seasonal and Interannual Variability in the Ocean Surface Salinity Along the US West Coast
15:00-15:30 Coffee Break / Poster Session
15:30-16:45 Discussion
Leads: Severine Fournier and Tony Lee
16:45-17:00 Tony Lee/Severine Fournier
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA
Closing Remarks
POSTERS
SESSION: Arctic Processes
Marie Zahn
NASA/Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA
SASSIE ECCO: A New High-Resolution Arctic Ocean and Sea Ice State Estimate
Dongmei Feng
University of Cincinnati, USA
Improving Continuous Estimates of Global River Discharge with Satellites
Carlyn Schmidgall
University of Washington, USA
Observations of (Sub)Mesoscale Salinity and Temperature Variability from Underway CTD
SESSION: Mission, Sensors, and Retrievals
Alex Akins
NASA/Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA
SMAP’s Decadal View of L-band Ocean Surface Emissivity
Mary Burkitt-Gray
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA
Toward An Interferometer for Absolute Salinity
SESSION: Open Ocean Processes
Sreelekha Jarugula
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA
Using ECCO State Estimate to Understand the Decadal Variation of Upper-Ocean Salinity in the Southeast Indian Ocean
SESSION: Salinity Products and Cal/Val
Jesse Anderson
Earth & Space Research, USA
Characterization of SMAP Salinity Dataset Biases and Errors
So-Hyun Kim
Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea
AI-Driven Global Sea Surface Salinity Retrieval from Ocean Color
Sebastien Guimbard
Ocean-Scope, France
Pi-MEP: Advanced Multi-Mission Tools for Satellite Salinity Assessment
Jacqueline Boutin
LOCEAN/CNRS, France
Novel Global and Arctic SSS Fields at CATDS
Laetitia Parc
LOCEAN/CNRS, France
C3S Sea Surface Salinity
Estrella Olmedo
ICM-CSIC, Spain
Polar Monitoring from Space: BEC SSS Data Products
SESSION: Coastal Ocean Processes
Jihun Jung
Oregon State University, USA
Sea Surface Salinity Variability in the Gulf of Anadyr, Bering Sea
Alexander Kurapov
NOAA NOS/OCS/CSDL/CMMB, USA
Shelf-Interior Ocean Transport of Terrestrial Waters and Other Factors Determining Sea Surface Salinity Variability in the Coastal Transition Zone (CTZ) of the Northeastern Pacific Region