1. USCLIVAR Salinity Working Group Status Report 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 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, CO2 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: 98o inclination, coverage every 7 dy • 390 km swath width • Radiometer: 1.43GHz polarimetric radiometer • Accuracy: 0.2psu, 150km !.4GHz (L-band) Brightness Temp Temperature

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

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