Contribution des DCP fixes et derivants a l'accroissement de la puissance de peche des navires de peche thoniere Auteur(s) : Le Gall, Jy Éditeur(s) : Pêche thonière et dispositifs de concentration de poissons, Caribbean-Martinique, 15-19 Oct 1999 Résumé : Tuna world fisheries yield 3 million tons per year; the increase rate of whole production is constant and sustained since 30 years. This original figure for marine fisheries is due to enlargement of tuna fleets and fishing grounds over all the world ocean, the continuous increase of tuna fishing power by in board equipment and remote sensing equipment for searching and scouting (on board, aircraft, satellite, telecommunication_). During the last 20 years, the log-associated tuna fishing has contributed to the local individual and tuna fleets efficiency and fishing power either for large industrial tuna seiners by radio-equipped buoys on natural (debris) or artificial man-made logs. The same trend is noted for numerous artisanal tuna and large pelagic coastal fisheries on moored fishing aggregating devices and networks. The first part of the paper is a review of data and results to assess and rank the "Surfaces prospected by in board tuna seiners and associated aircraft and satellite technics" (visual, radar, sar-radar and satellite altimetry sensors). The final objective is the comparison with the surfaces and volumes associated to fads. Since 20 years, tuna ecology and behaviour data from ultrasonic tagging (short-term depth/distance/time migration around logs and fads) are used for fishing of tuna associated with floating objects, namely fads. The second part of this paper is an "Assessment of fad's aggregating associated surface and volume" linked with oceanographic data: large oceanic geostrophic current and observed drift speed of radio-equipped fads in the Indian Ocean. Using the available data on fads, tuna fishing technology linked with oceanographic and biological data results from ultrasonic tuna tracking experiments, the paper is an attempt to identify and place the fads technology in the scale of tuna fishing devices as a contribution to the increase of tuna fishing power either individual tuna boat or tuna fleets.Original Abstract: La production mondiale des pecheries thonieres est actuellement de l'ordre de 3 millions de tonnes par an et conserve depuis pres de 50 ans un taux de croissance annuel soutenu. Cette croissance, exceptionnelle pour un secteur des peches maritimes, est due a plusieurs causes: accroissement des effectifs et des puissances de peche des grandes flottes thonieres industrielles oceaniques qui exploitent les ressources thonieres de l'ocean mondial et le developpement conjoint de nouvelles techniques de peche et de nouvelles technologies d'aide a la peche, telles que les dispositifs de concentration de poissons (DCP). L'accroissement de la puissance individuelle des navires est du au developpement de la construction navale (mecanisation, propulsion, hydraulique, conservation et traitement a borda) et a l'utilisation d'une gamme diversifiee d'aides a la peche : navigation, telecommunication, localisation des zones favorables, detection visuelle ou radiometrique assistee par equipement a bord, en helicoptere et avion, detection acoustique, detection par radar de bord, radar-avion ou, a terme, antenne SAR sur satellite. Plus recemment, soit depuis 20 ans, les caracteristiques du comportement, migration de court terme, agregation et concentration des poissons pelagiques, fixation et retention des bancs de thons, sont utilisees, par les dispositifs de concentration de poissons (DCP) ancres ou derivants. Cette contribution a pour objectif de situer et placer les DCP fixes ou derivants sur cet ensemble de techniques d'aide a la peche thoniere. Les donnees pour cet essai de classement sont d'ordres biologique, ethologique et comportementaux (amplitude de deplacement des thons et dimension de la sphere d'attraction d'un DCP) et d'ordres environnemental et oceanographique : masse d'eau concernee par un DCP dans une large veine de courant oceanique ou cotier. On tente de quantifier et d'ordonner les surfaces et les volumes prospectes par les thoniers et particulierement les volumes et masses d'eau exploites par les thoniers utilisant des DCP. Ce classement des DCP dans la serie des dispositifs d'aide a la peche thoniere facilitera l'appreciation de leur contribution a l'augmentation des puissances de peche des thoniers. Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00042/15297/12656.pdf http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00042/15297/ | Partager Voir aussi Attracting techniques Fishing power Fishing technology Remote sensing Tracking Tuna fisheries Ultrasonic devices Télécharger |
Comparison of spaceborne measurements of sea surface salinity and colored detrital matter in the Amazon plume Auteur(s) : Fournier, Severine Chapron, Bertrand Salisbury, J. Vandemark, Douglas Reul, Nicolas Éditeur(s) : Amer Geophysical Union Résumé : Large rivers are key hydrologic components in oceanography, particularly regarding air-sea and land-sea exchanges and biogeochemistry. We enter now in a new era of Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) observing system from Space with the recent launches of the ESA Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) and the NASA Aquarius/Sac-D missions. With these new sensors, we are now in an excellent position to revisit SSS and ocean color investigations in the tropical northwest Atlantic using multi-year remote sensing time series and concurrent in situ observations. The Amazon is the world's largest river in terms of discharge. In its plume, SSS and upper water column optical properties such as the absorption coefficient of colored detrital matter (acdm) are strongly negatively correlated (<-0.7). Local quasi-linear relationships between SSS and acdm are derived for these plume waters over the period of 2010-2013 using new spaceborne SSS and ocean color measurements. Results allow unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution of this coupling. These relationships are then used to estimate SSS in the Amazon plume based on ocean color satellite data. This new product is validated against SMOS and in situ data and compared with previously developed SSS retrieval models. We demonstrate the potential to estimate tropical Atlantic SSS for the extended period from 1998 to 2010, prior to spaceborne SSS data collection. Journal Of Geophysical Research-oceans (0148-0227) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2015-05 , Vol. 120 , N. 5 , P. 3177-3192 Droits : 2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00255/36610/35742.pdf DOI:10.1002/2014JC010109 http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00255/36610/ | Partager Voir aussi Amazon-Orinoco river plume SMOS SSS conservative mixing ocean color salinity satellite oceanography Télécharger |
The colour of the Coral Sea Auteur(s) : DUPOUY, Cecile Wattelez, Guillaume FUCHS, Rosalie Lefevre, Jérôme Mangeas, Morgan Murakami, Hiroshi Frouin, Robert Auteurs secondaires : Institut méditerranéen d'océanologie (MIO) ; Université Sud Toulon Var (USTV) - CNRS - Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UMR235 - Aix-Marseille Université (AMU) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD (Nouméa)) ; Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] Espace pour le Développement (ESPACE-DEV) ; Université Montpellier 2 - Sciences et Techniques (UM2) - Université des Antilles et de la Guyane (UAG) - Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] - Université de la Réunion EORC ; JAXA ; INCONNUE - INCONNUE Scripps Institution of Oceanography ; INCONNUE VALHYBIO Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Résumé : Satellite and in situ chlorophyll concentration data collected as part of VALidation HYperspectral of a BIOgeochemical model (ValHyBio), a PNTS-sponsored project dedicated to satellite ocean-colour imaging of the Southwest Pacific, are analyzed to describe chlorophyll variability in the Coral Sea, a vast oligotrophic region characterized by a deep chlorophyll maximum and blue waters of high transparency. Average chlorophyll concentrations estimated from MODIS-Aqua are very low (<0.2 mg m-3) except in the vicinity of main islands and coral reefs, where enrichment may occur due to upwelling or internal waves that bring nutrients to the euphotic zone from the deep part of the water column. During the summer season, blooms of cyanobacteria (Trichodesmium) develop in the surface waters and may form large slicks. The nitrogen fixed by these slicks is a potential source of new nitrogen later assimilated by picoplankton and the marine food chain. Coastal areas exhibit higher chlorophyll concentrations because of nutrient input from the land, as observed in 2008 around New Caledonia. In lagoon areas, the sea colour is influenced by turbidity and bathymetry, and the MODIS OC3 algorithm is inadequate, with a systematic overestimation of chlorophyll concentration in the New Caledonia lagoon. Improved bio-optical algorithms are needed for those turbid and shallow waters, to allow not only a better description of chlorophyll variability, but also evaluation of chlorophyll simulations by recently developed biogeochemical models. of the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium, 18E CAIRNS, Australia hal-00746470 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00746470 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00746470/document | Partager |
Improvement in airsea flux estimates derived from satellite observations Auteur(s) : Bentamy, Abderrahim Grodsky, Semyon A. Katsaros, Kristina Mestas-nunez, Alberto M. Blanke, Bruno Desbiolles, Fabien Éditeur(s) : Taylor & Francis Ltd Résumé : A new method is developed to estimate daily turbulent airsea fluxes over the global ocean on a 0.25 degrees grid. The required surface wind speed (w(10)) and specific air humidity (q(10)) at 10m height are both estimated from remotely sensed measurements. w(10) is obtained from the SeaWinds scatterometer on board the QuikSCAT satellite. A new empirical model relating brightness temperatures (T-b) from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and q(10) is developed. It is an extension of the author's previous q(10) model. In addition to T-b, the empirical model includes sea surface temperature (SST) and airsea temperature difference data. The calibration of the new empirical q(10) model utilizes q(10) from the latest version of the National Oceanography Centre airsea interaction gridded data set (NOCS2.0). Compared with mooring data, the new satellite q(10) exhibits better statistical results than previous estimates. For instance, the bias, the root mean square (RMS), and the correlation coefficient values estimated from comparisons between satellite and moorings in the northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea are 0.04gkg(1), 0.87gkg(1), and 0.95, respectively. The new satellite q(10) is used in combination with the newly reprocessed QuikSCAT V3, the latest version of SST analyses provided by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), and 10m air temperature estimated from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalyses (ERA-Interim), to determine three daily gridded turbulent quantities at 0.25 degrees spatial resolution: surface wind stress, latent heat flux (LHF), and sensible heat flux (SHF). Validation of the resulting fields is performed through a comprehensive comparison with daily, in situ values of LHF and SHF from buoys. In the northeast Atlantic basin, the satellite-derived daily LHF has bias, RMS, and correlation of 5Wm(2), 27Wm(2), and 0.89, respectively. For SHF, the statistical parameters are 2Wm(2), 10Wm(2), and 0.94, respectively. At global scale, the new satellite LHF and SHF are compared to NOCS2.0 daily estimates. Both daily fluxes exhibit similar spatial and seasonal variability. The main departures are found at latitudes south of 40 degrees S, where satellite latent and sensible heat fluxes are generally larger. International Journal Of Remote Sensing (0143-1161) (Taylor & Francis Ltd), 2013-07 , Vol. 34 , N. 14 , P. 5243-5261 Droits : 2013 Taylor & Francis http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00137/24825/23575.pdf DOI:10.1080/01431161.2013.787502 http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00137/24825/ | Partager |
Approche empirique de la pecherie d'espadon (Xiphias gladius) dans l'ocean Indien et modelisation des deplacements des poissons dans le paysage oceanique tropical Auteur(s) : Guyomard, David Éditeur(s) : Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Rennes Résumé : Long-line fishing has been growing on the island of La Réunion since the beginning of the 1990s. The target species is the swordfish (Xiphias gladius), fished mainly in the tropical waters surrounding the island between longitudes 45 degree E and 60 degree E, and latitudes 17 degree S and 27 degree S. From 1998 to 2000, a finalised research programme enabled the collection of precise data concerning the lines' positions and the parameters of the fishing efforts: 3,602 nettings were thus informed by the catches (in numbers of individuals caught) and 12 descriptive variables of the effort. In parallel with this collection effort, satellite maps that described the ocean's landscape of this region of the Indian Ocean exploited by La Réunion's fisheries were made available to sailors and scientists. Extractions from these environmental variables were made at the fishing lines' positions, which allowed us to propose 20 variables describing the environmental conditions of swordfish catches applied to the nettings. In an early part of this study, after a descriptive analysis and a first selection of the variables, we used several GAM (Generalised Additive Models) to model the respective effects of effort and environmental variables on the variability of swordfish catches. We thus highlighted the predominance of factors linked to fishermen (fishing effort) on oceanographic factors in the explanation of this variability. Following these results, a summary on the biology and ecology of the swordfish was proposed in order to draw up hypotheses on the characteristics of this species' population in the Indian Ocean. The aspects linked to the individual behaviour and movements of the population were particularly highlighted. In a latter part of this study and in order to complete the empirical approach by an exploratory constructivist approach, we proposed a modelling tool in order to simulate the possible movements of individuals within the oceanic landscape described by the available satellite maps. After reading in the literature about the various forms of modelling the movements of the large pelagics, we developed an original computer modelling architecture of the multi-agent type that made it possible to manipulate in a dynamic way the satellite maps (and derived products), the individual movements of "animats" whose behaviours were based on this environmental information, and agents that clarify the process of long-line fishing in a geographical way. The computer model that was implemented (MUFINS, for MUlti-Fish INdian ocean Simulator) was next used by calibrating the behaviour of the animats on the real data originally from the analysis of commercial catches proposed in the first part, using robust techniques based on fuzzy logic. The results of the simulations were compared, on the one hand, with the large-scale hypotheses of movement proposed in the first part, and, on the other hand, to swordfish catches both real and corrected for the effect of the fishing effort modelled by the GAM models. Even if the results of these simulations in this study do not allow for proposing convincing interpretations of the underlying processes, the MUFINS tool showed its ability to address questions associated with the swordfish's behaviour in the tropical oceanic landscape and to the effects of scale transfers between the individual level and the collective level. We now envisage its use in a more operational framework, as an interface for dialogue between fishermen and scientists with a goal of sustainable management of the resource. La peche palangriere s'est developpee a l'ile de La Reunion depuis le debut des annees 1990. L'espece cible est l'espadon (Xiphias gladius), principalement exploite dans les eaux tropicales autour de l'ile entre les longitudes 45 degree E et 60 degree E, et les latitudes 17 degree S et 27 degree S. De 1998 a 2000, un programme de recherche finalisee a permis de collecter des informations precises concernant les positions des lignes et les parametres de l'effort de peche : 3602 filages sont ainsi renseignes par les captures (en nombre d'individus captures) et 12 variables descriptives de l'effort. En parallele de cet effort de collecte, des cartes satellitales ont pu etre mises a la disposition des marins et des scientifiques, decrivant le paysage oceanique de cette region de l'ocean Indien exploitee par la pecherie reunionnaise. Des extractions de ces variables environnementales ont ete effectuees aux positions des lignes de peche, nous permettant de proposer 20 variables descriptives des conditions environnementales de captures d'espadon appliquees aux filages. Dans une premiere partie de ce travail, apres une analyse descriptive et une premiere selection des variables, on a modelise par plusieurs modeles GAM (Generalized Additive Models) les effets respectifs des variables d'effort et des variables environnementales sur la variabilite des captures d'espadon. On a ainsi mis en evidence la predominance des facteurs lies aux pecheurs (effort de peche) sur les facteurs oceanographiques dans le caractere explicatif de cette variabilite. A la suite de ces resultats, une synthese sur la biologie et l'ecologie de l'espadon a ete proposee afin de degager des hypotheses sur les caracteristiques de la population de cette espece dans l'ocean Indien. Les aspects lies au comportement individuel et aux deplacements de la population ont ete particulierement mis en evidence. Dans une deuxieme partie de ce travail et afin de completer l'approche empirique par une approche constructiviste exploratoire, nous avons propose un outil de modelisation afin de simuler les deplacements possibles d'individus au sein du paysage oceanique decrit par les cartes satellitales disponibles. Apres avoir passe en revue dans la litterature les differentes formes de modelisation des deplacements des grands, pelagiques, nous avons developpe une architecture originale de modelisation informatique de type multi-agents permettant de manipuler de maniere dynamique les cartes satellitales (et les produits derives), les mouvements individuels < d'animats >, dont les comportements sont bases sur cette information environnementale, et des agents qui explicitent le processus de capture palangriere de maniere geographique. Le modele informatique ainsi implemente (MUFINS, pour MUlti-Fish INdian ocean Simulator) a ensuite ete utilise en calibrant les comportements des animats sur les donnees reelles issues de l'analyse des captures commerciales proposee en premiere partie, a partir de techniques robustes basee sur la logique floue. Les resultats des simulations ont ete confrontes d'une part aux hypotheses de deplacement a grande echelle proposees en premiere partie, et d'autre part aux captures d'espadon reelles et corrigees de l'effet de l'effort de peche modelise par les modeles GAM. Meme si les resultats de simulations presentes dans ce travail ne permettent pas de proposer d'interpretations convaincantes des processus sous-jacents, l'outil MUFINS a demontre son aptitude a aborder les questions liees au comportement de l'espadon dans le paysage oceanique tropical et aux effets des transferts d'echelle entre le niveau individuel et le niveau collectif. On envisage desormais son utilisation dans un cadre plus operationnel, comme interface de dialogue entre les pecheurs et les scientifiques a des fins de gestion durable de la ressource. Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2005/these-2592.pdf http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/2592/ | Partager |
Societal need for improved understanding of climate change, anthropogenic impacts, and geo-hazard warning drive development of ocean observatories in European Seas Auteur(s) : Ruhl, Henry A. Andre, Michel Beranzoli, Laura Cagatay, M. Namik Colaco, Ana Cannat, Mathilde Danobeitia, Juanjo J. Favali, Paolo Éditeur(s) : Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd Résumé : Society's needs for a network of in situ ocean observing systems cross many areas of earth and marine science. Here we review the science themes that benefit from data supplied from ocean observatories. Understanding from existing studies is fragmented to the extent that it lacks the coherent long-term monitoring needed to address questions at the scales essential to understand climate change and improve geo-hazard early warning. Data sets from the deep sea are particularly rare with long-term data available from only a few locations worldwide. These science areas have impacts on societal health and well-being and our awareness of ocean function in a shifting climate. Substantial efforts are underway to realise a network of open-ocean observatories around European Seas that will operate over multiple decades. Some systems are already collecting high-resolution data from surface, water column, seafloor, and sub-seafloor sensors linked to shore by satellite or cable connection in real or near-real time, along with samples and other data collected in a delayed mode. We expect that such observatories will contribute to answering major ocean science questions including: How can monitoring of factors such as seismic activity, pore fluid chemistry and pressure, and gas hydrate stability improve seismic, slope failure, and tsunami warning? What aspects of physical oceanography, biogeochemical cycling, and ecosystems will be most sensitive to climatic and anthropogenic change? What are natural versus anthropogenic changes? Most fundamentally, how are marine processes that occur at differing scales related? The development of ocean observatories provides a substantial opportunity for ocean science to evolve in Europe. Here we also describe some basic attributes of network design. Observatory networks provide the means to coordinate and integrate the collection of standardised data capable of bridging measurement scales across a dispersed area in European Seas adding needed certainty to estimates of future oceanic conditions. Observatory data can be analysed along with other data such as those from satellites, drifting floats, autonomous underwater vehicles, model analysis, and the known distribution and abundances of marine fauna in order to address some of the questions posed above. Standardised methods for information management are also becoming established to ensure better accessibility and traceability of these data sets and ultimately to increase their use for societal benefit. The connection of ocean observatory effort into larger frameworks including the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and the Global Monitoring of Environment and Security (GMES) is integral to its success. It is in a greater integrated framework that the full potential of the component systems will be realised. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Progress In Oceanography (0079-6611) (Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd), 2011-10 , Vol. 91 , N. 1 , P. 1-33 Droits : 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00044/15557/15923.pdf DOI:10.1016/j.pocean.2011.05.001 http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00044/15557/ | Partager |
Ocean remote sensing data integration - examples and outlook Auteur(s) : Chapron, Bertrand Bingham, A Collard, Fabrice Donlon, Craig Johannessen, Johnny A. Piolle, Jean-francois Reul, Nicolas Éditeur(s) : ESA Publication Résumé : Satellite remote sensing has emerged as an essential and necessary observing system to acquire global information about the state of the ocean. Complemented with in situ observing networks, the ultimate goals are to be able to make accurate estimates of selected key sets of geophysical variables, with the intention of either making operational predictions across time and spatial boundaries, or advancing fundamental knowledge through development of empirical relationships and theoretical models. For satellite oceanography, improvements are then constantly being sought in our understandings of the geophysical processes, the sensor physics, the electromagnetic and microwave properties and interactions at the complex air-sea interface. Challenges appear as unlimited as the variety of sea surface dynamics and boundary layer meteorological conditions with their broad range of spatial and temporal scales across the globe. To face these challenges, numerous efforts took places over the passed decade to build an ever-increasing quality, quantity, duration and integration of ocean observations. In parallel, simulation capabilities largely improved. All these efforts are then all critically calling for improved methodologies to better structure the wealth of information that is made readily accessible. This latter aspect is a very demanding new component for future multidisciplinary scientific research. Major innovations to consolidate sensor data repositories, to automate tailored queries, to extract, reveal and quantify relationships will then closely associate computer science developments and applied statistics with comprehensive theoretical and experimental thematic studies. Proceedings of OceanObs'09: Sustained Ocean Observations and Information for Society (ESA Publication), 2010 Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00029/14046/11241.pdf DOI:10.5270/OceanObs09.pp.12 http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00029/14046/ | Partager |
First Assessment of SMOS Data Over Open Ocean: Part II-Sea Surface Salinity Auteur(s) : Boutin, Jacqueline Martin, Nicolas Yin, Xiaobin Font, Jordi Reul, Nicolas Spurgeon, Paul Éditeur(s) : Ieee-inst Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc Résumé : We validate Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) sea surface salinity (SSS) retrieved during August 2010 from the European Space Agency SMOS processing. Biases appear close to land and ice and between ascending and descending orbits; they are linked to image reconstruction issues and instrument calibration and remain under study. We validate the SMOS SSS in conditions where these biases appear to be small. We compare SMOS and ARGO SSS over four regions far from land and ice using only ascending orbits. Four modelings of the impact of the wind on the sea surface emissivity have been tested. Results suggest that the L-band brightness temperature is not linearly related to the wind speed at high winds as expected in the presence of emissive foam, but that the foam effect is less than previously modeled. Given the large noise on individual SMOS measurements, a precision suitable for oceanographic studies can only be achieved after averaging SMOS SSS. Over selected regions and after mean bias removal, the precision on SSS retrieved from ascending orbits and averaged over 100 km $times$ 100 km and 10 days is between 0.3 and 0.5 pss far from land and sea ice borders. These results have been obtained with forward models not fitted to satellite L-band measurements, and image reconstruction and instrument calibration are expected to improve. Hence, we anticipate that deducing, from SMOS measurements, SSS maps at 200 km $times$ 200 km, 10 days resolution with an accuracy of 0.2 pss at a global scale is not out of reach. Ieee Transactions On Geoscience And Remote Sensing (0196-2892) (Ieee-inst Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc), 2012-05 , Vol. 50 , N. 5 , P. 1662-1675 Droits : 2012 IEEE http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00074/18557/16108.pdf DOI:10.1109/TGRS.2012.2184546 http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00074/18557/ | Partager |
Sea surface freshening inferred from SMOS and ARGO salinity: impact of rain Auteur(s) : Boutin, Jacqueline Martin, Nicolas Reverdin, Gilles Yin, Xiaoming Gaillard, Fabienne Éditeur(s) : Copernicus Gesellschaft Mbh Résumé : The sea surface salinity (SSS) measured from space by the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission has recently been revisited by the European Space Agency first campaign reprocessing. We show that, with respect to the previous version, biases close to land and ice greatly decrease. The accuracy of SMOS SSS averaged over 10 days, 100 x 100 km(2) in the open ocean and estimated by comparison to ARGO (Array for Real-Time Geostrophic Oceanography) SSS is on the order of 0.3-0.4 in tropical and subtropical regions and 0.5 in a cold region. The averaged negative SSS bias (-0.1) observed in the tropical Pacific Ocean between 5 degrees N and 15 degrees N, relatively to other regions, is suppressed when SMOS observations concomitant with rain events, as detected from SSM/Is (Special Sensor Microwave Imager) rain rates, are removed from the SMOS-ARGO comparisons. The SMOS freshening is linearly correlated to SSM/Is rain rate with a slope estimated to -0.14 mm(-1) h, after correction for rain atmospheric contribution. This tendency is the signature of the temporal SSS variability between the time of SMOS and ARGO measurements linked to rain variability and of the vertical salinity stratification between the first centimeter of the sea surface layer sampled by SMOS and the 5 m depth sampled by ARGO. However, given that the whole set of collocations includes situations with ARGO measurements concomitant with rain events collocated with SMOS measurements under no rain, the mean -0.1 bias and the negative skewness of the statistical distribution of SMOS minus ARGO SSS difference are very likely the mean signature of the vertical salinity stratification. In the future, the analysis of ongoing in situ salinity measurements in the top 50 cm of the sea surface and of Aquarius satellite SSS are expected to provide complementary information about the sea surface salinity stratification. Ocean Science (1812-0784) (Copernicus Gesellschaft Mbh), 2013 , Vol. 9 , N. 1 , P. 183-192 Droits : Author(s) 2013. CC Attribution 3.0 License. http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00139/25073/23161.pdf DOI:10.5194/os-9-183-2013 http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00139/25073/ | Partager |