News
Ocean Salinity Science and Salinity Remote Sensing Workshop
26 November 2014
ESA is pleased to announce that the Ocean Salinity Science and Salinity Remote Sensing Workshop, will take place 26-28 Nov 2014 at Met Office, Exeter, United Kingdom.
Information on the workshop can be found HERE
Background
The scientific relevance for measuring Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) is more and more recognized in the ocean community. SSS plays an important role in the dynamics of the thermohaline circulation, ENSO, and is the key tracer for the marine branch of the global hydrological cycle, which comprises about 3/4 of the global precipitation and evaporation budget. Ocean surface salinity is of key importance for land-sea (river plumes), air-sea (ocean stratification, barrier layers, CO2 fluxes) and ice-sea interactions, marine biology, marine biogeochemistry and marine bio-optics. Sea surface salinity is also essential to understanding the ocean's interior water masses, knowing that they derive their underlying temperature and salinity properties during their most recent surface interval.
In addition to the in situ observing network, both SMOS and Aquarius missions are providing sea surface salinity estimates at L-band but based on different technologies deployed in space. Results obtained so far demonstrate the strong scientific potential of the novel information provided by these new data sources.
The focus of this workshop will be:
- To review progress made in using Ocean Salinity data (SSS and subsurface);
- To identify scientific challenges and benefits of using satellite SSS data in the wider ocean community in synergy with other data sources (in situ, satellite, model); and thus
- To foster the use of the new SSS data from space in the wider ocean and climate science communities.
Objectives
- Review the progress in our understanding of ocean salinity and associated processes
- Present the status of satellite remote sensing of sea surface salinity and its contribution to ocean science
- Explore techniques and challenges associated with the use of salinity data in ocean models
- Identify the most promising future applications for satellite-derived estimates of sea surface salinity
- Review user requirements for future satellite-derived estimates of sea surface salinity
- Prioritise future activities for ocean salinity science
Themes
- Sea surface salinity monitoring: past, present and future
- Complementarities between in situ and satellite SSS observing systems
- Salinity and the water cycle, including atmosphere/ocean/land/ice interactions and fluxes
- Salinity and ocean circulation (e.g. modelling, data assimilation, transports, upper ocean processes)
- Salinity and ocean biology (e.g. links with fisheries, primary productivity), biogeochemistry (e.g. CO2 fugacity) and bio-optics
- Salinity and climate monitoring / prediction
- Scientific challenges and priorities for salinity science
Papers and Posters are welcome on all topics.
Organisation
A detailed meeting programme will be available 2 months before the meeting with the following meeting structure:
- Wednesday 26th November to Friday 28th November (SMOS-MODE will also meet on 25th November). The meeting will conclude in the early afternoon of the 28th November
- Invited talks from key note speakers and an open call for oral and poster contributions (abstract deadline 30th June 2014)
- The programme will be organized in scientific sessions covering the themes outlined above.
- A poster session will run throughout the meeting
- Welcome reception evening of 26th November
- Conference dinner evening of 27th November (not hosted by the meeting)
Abstract Submission
On-line abstract submission is available HERE
All abstracts have to be submitted by 30 June 2014. Submitters will be notified by 1 September 2014.
Registration
The online registration form is available HERE.
Venue
The Meeting will take place at the Met Office, Headquarters located in Exeter, Devon UK. Details for travelling to the Met Office are available HERE
Met Office FitzRoy Road
Exeter, EX1 3PB
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 01392 885680
Fax: +44 01392 885681
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk
Local Contacts:
Dr Matt Martin
Tel: +44 (0)1392 886465
Fax: +44 (0)1392 885681
E-mail: matthew.martin@metoffice.gov.uk
Lesley Challenger
Communications Advisor
Tel: +44 (0)1392 885735
Fax: +44 (0)1392 885681
E-mail: lesley.challenger@metoffice.gov.uk
Accommodations
The Following Hotels have been reserved for the meeting. Please register and book hotels directly as places could be limited due the the pre-Christmas period festivities.
Jury’s Inn (http://www.jurysinns.com/hotels/exeter) located in the centre of Exeter have allocated 70 rooms between 25-28th November. These rooms would be at £75 per night for Bed & Breakfast. Please contact the hotels directly and quote the following code: META2511 in order to take up one of the rooms.
The Abode Hotel (http://www.abodeexeter.co.uk) will have 12 rooms available (7 at £85 & 5 at £110) and the booking code is META251114
The Mercure Southgate Hotel (http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-6624-mercure-exeter-southgate-hotel/location.shtml) can offer rooms at £94 subject to availability. Delegates can contact the hotel quoting AQUA MET OFFICE.
SMOS MODE Meeting
SMOS MODE group will meet on 25th November at the Met Office.
The EU COST Action ES1001 SMOS-MODE (SMOS Mission Oceanographic Data Exploitation) is aimed at coordinating European studies concerning the exploitation of the ESA Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite mission over oceans. Beginning in January 2011, SMOS-MODE has been fundamental in focusing a broad pan-European user community on the novel data that the SMOS mission is providing. The overall goal targeted by the network is the synergy of European efforts in the interpretation of the measurements and their applications. This COST Action is coordinating European teams working on two major research areas. The first theme focuses on the improvement and development of the various techniques being implemented to retrieve salinity information from satellite data. The second is assessing the added value of such products in operational oceanography, process and climate studies. The Action has been an ideal framework to homogenize the often fragmented efforts in these research areas. It is expected that it will help in defining, when possible, common protocols to avoid the proliferation of multiple salinity products arising from the same source of data. The work carried out under the SMOS-MODE umbrella has provided valuable feedback to evaluate the mission’s performance and SMOS-MODE has established its role as an EU-US ocean salinity reference group, serving as a scientific and programmatic bridge to colleagues overseas.
In the past, SMOS-MODE COST Action and ESA’s SMOS mission have actively worked together on events such as the “SMOS-Aquarius Science Workshopâ€, held in April 2013 in Brest, France, jointly co-organised and funded by SMOS-MODE.
In the context of the current “Ocean Salinity Science and Salinity Remote Sensing Workshopâ€, apart from providing financial support for the local host including Travel and Support (T&S) for between 30 and 40 delegates, SMOS-MODE will hold a meeting of Working Group 1 (Satellite salinity retrieval) and a Management Committee meeting on Tuesday, November 25th. The meeting of Working Group 2 (Oceanographic exploitation) will be integrated with the main Workshop given the complementarity of the themes.
Organizing Committee
Christine Gommenginger / NOC, UK
Matthew Martin / Met Office, UK
Lesley Challenger / Met Office, UK
Jacqueline Boutin / LOCEAN, France
Nicolas Reul / IFREMER, France
Chris Banks / NOC, UK
Ellis Ash / SatOC, UK
Antonio Turiel / ICM-CSIC, Spain
Craig Donlon / ESA, Netherlands
Scientific Committee
Detlef Stammer / Universität Hamburg, Germany
Gilles Reverdin / LOCEAN, France
Jordi Font / ICM-CSIC, Spain
Ray Schmidt / WHOI, USA
Arnold Gordon / LDEO, Uni. Columbia
Thierry Delcroix / LEGOS, France
Gary Lagerloef / ESR / Aquarius PI, USA
Harry Bryden / Uni. Southampton, UK
Hans Bonekamp / EUMETSAT
Johnny Johannessen / NERSC, Norway
Simon Yueh / JPL, SMAP, USA
Tony Lee / NASA JPL, USA
Yi Chao / Remote Sensing Solutions, USA
Aida Alvera Azcarate / Uni. Liege, Belgium
Magdalena Balmaseda / ECMWF, UK
Keith Haines / Uni. Reading, UK
Lisan Yu / WHOI, USA
Benoit Tranchant / CLS, France
Eric Bayler / NOAA/NESDIS/STAR, USA
Tom Farrar / WHOI, USA
Christophe Maes / LEGOS, France
Arnold Dekker / CSIRO, Australia
Gary Brassington / Bureau of meteorology, Australia
Joe Salisbury / Univ. New Hampshire, USA
Manuel Martin-Neira / ESA, Netherlands
Elaine McDonagh / NOC, UK
Richard Wood / Met Office, UK
Bill Asher / Uni. Washington, USA
Juliette Lambin / CNES, France
Susanne Mecklenburg / ESA, Italy
Steven Delwart / ESA, Italy
Roberto Sabia / ESA, Netherlands
Diego Fernandez / ESA, Italy
Kenneth S. Casey / NOAA, USA
Contact Points
ESA Conference Bureau
Via Galileo Galilei
00044 Frascati (RM)
Italy
Phone: +39 06 94180 912
Fax: +39 06 94180 902
Email:
esa.conference.bureau@esa.int
