US D.O.C. / NOAA / OAR / ERL / PMEL / 1998 Science Review

Salinity Processing and Quality Control

Freitag, H.P., M. McCarty, C. Nosse, R. Lukas, M.J. McPhaden, and M.F. Cronin, COARE SEACAT data: Calibration and quality control procedures. NOAA Technical Memorandum ERL PMEL-115 , Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, WA, 89 pp., March 1999.

This tech report describes the processing and quality control applied to the salintiy data from twelve mooring sites as a part of the COARE EMA. Primary sources of error were biological fouling, abrasive scouring of the conductivity cell, and temperature/conductivity sensor response time mismatch in the presence of high-frequency temperature variability and low flush rate.

 

Salinity Balance in the Western Equatoral Pacific During COARE EMA

Cronin, M.F. and M. J. McPhaden, Upper ocean salinity balance in the western equatorial Pacific. J. Geophys. Res., 103, 27567-27587, 1998.

Hourly data at 0o,156oE and daily subsurface salinity from nearby moorings were used to evaluate nearly all terms in the surface salinity balance for the 2-year period (Aug 91-Apr 94). Zonal advection was consistent with the concept of a zonally migrating fresh pool and was the dominant process responsible for surface salinity variability.

 

Diurnal Cycle of Salinity Balance in the Western Equatoral Pacific

Cronin, M. F. and M. J. McPhaden, Diurnal cycle of rainfall and surface salinity in the western Pacific warm pool. Geophys. Res. Let., 26, 3465-3468, 1999.

The diurnal cycle of rainfall is closely linked to the diurnal cycle of SST, with preferential rainfall both in the late afternoon and prior to dawn. Although the afternoon rainfall results in anomalously fresh surface salinity, nighttime mixing counteracts the predawn rainfall freshening. Consequently, the surface salinity is anomalously high in the early morning hours.

 

Buoyancy Effects of Heat and Freshwater

Cronin, M. F. and M. J. McPhaden, A comparison of the heat and salinity balances at 0, 156E. In: COARE98 proceedings of a conference on the TOGA Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) (Boulder Colorado, USA, 7-14-July 1998), WCRP-107, WMO/TD-No. 940, Geneva, Switzerland, p. 303-304, 1999.

Westerly wind bursts are associated with high rainfall and a net surface cooling, and thus the surface flux terms in the heat and salinity balances are highly correlated. The response however is different in the two balances due to the compensating vs. enhancing nature of mixing. During WWB, mixing enhances the surface cooling, but counteracts the surface freshening. As a result, zonal advection has a more dominant role in the salinity balance, than in the heat balance.

 

Meghan F. Cronin Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory 7600 Sand Point Way NE Seattle, WA 98115 USA

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