Status of aquarius and the salinity retrieval

Abstract

Aquarius is a radiometer/scatterometer combination specifically designed for remote sensing of sea surface salinity. The instrument was launched on June 10, 2011 as part of the Aquarius/SAC-D observatory. The observatory and all instruments were lost on June 7, 2015 when a power failure on the satellite resulted in loss of control of the observatory. Mission operations have ended and the Aquarius science team is preparing a final reprocessing of the data. Among the improvements expected are correction for reflected radiation from the galaxy and an instrument-only correction for small “wiggles” in the calibration. Aquarius leaves a legacy of almost 4 years of data that are unique for accuracy and the combined active/passive look at the surface. This paper reports the status of mission and preliminary results of a new development in calibration.