1. Activities Role of Ocean Salinity in Climate I, II, III at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Honolulu, February, 2006 US CLIVAR Salinity Workshop held in Woods Hole, MA 8-10 May followed by the NASA Aquarius Science Team Meeting EOS meeting report whitepaper USCLIVAR Salinity Working Group Status Report Ray Schmitt & Jim Carton

2. Objectives Weather & Water –Closure of Marine Hydrological Cycle Climate/Climate Change Research –Circulation: Meridional Overturning, Subtropical Cells, etc. Dynamically Vital and as Tracer –Alkalinity, CO 2 Air-Sea Exchange Rate Climate Prediction –Seasonal/Interannual Air-Sea Interaction (Barrier Layers) Improved Thermal Structure in Assimilations –Density-Driven Circulation Climate Application –Ground truth for Aquarius/SMOS( 2009/2007) –Nearshore, fisheries, biogeochemistry

3. Aquarius / SAC-D Salinity Mission Launch in 2009, 3yr mission Orbit: 98 o inclination, coverage every 7 dy 390 km swath width Radiometer: 1.43GHz polarimetric radiometer Accuracy: 0.2psu, 150km Temperature Brightness Temp !.4GHz (L-band)

4. Atlantic salt storage (1985-99 minus 1955-69) R. CURRY ET AL., NATURE 426, 826 (2003) Eq

5. Freshening of the subpolar North Atlantic Dickson, et. al., Nature, 2002

6. LONG-TERM TRENDS Trend : psu / 30 years = - 0.12 - 0.23 - 0.29 - 0.32 (-0.11) T. Delcroix

7. Developing Observing System In situ SSS observations –Maintain Argo Program –SSS on Global Drifter Program –Expand Thermosalinographs on VOS –{Surface ARGO Salinity Measurements (Upper 5-m sensor)} Maintain/Expand Tropical/subtropical Moored Arrays –Climate Prediction, Climate Research –Expanded Flux Buoys Polar & Subpolar Salinity Observations –Deep Ocean Ventilation & Sequestration via Convection, Overflows, & Passages (Climate Change Research, Climate Prediction) Glider Lines S sensors on all IOOS Moorings, Platforms and Vehicles Paleo-Salinity Estimators (Climate Change/Research)

8. Process-oriented budget experiment – tropics-subtropics