SMOS and Aquarius/SAC-D Missions: The Era of Spaceborne Salinity Measurements is About to Begin

摘要

During the Oceans from Space Venice 2000 meeting a decade ago, a friendly wager was made among a few participants. The potential for salinity measurement from space was a topic of lively discussion at a Special Session on Salinity Remote Sensing. There were some promising developments presented indicating that this capability would be achieved during decade ahead. The European Space Agency (ESA) pathfinder Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission had been selected in 1999. Meanwhile, NASA scientists were actively planning a pathfinder salinity mission proposal for a mid-2001 deadline, eventually to be named Aquarius. It was then estimated that these missions would be launched as early as mid-decade. Some participants were quite skeptical. After all, the scientific accuracy required is —0.2 pss (practical salinity scale 1978), which equates to about 1/2 pinch of salt in a bot-tle of wine. So the wager was made, with a bottle of wine at stake, whether or not satellite-based salinity measurements would be presented at Oceans for Space 2010.