Aquarius has produced its first map of global ocean salinity. The map is a composite of the first two and a half weeks of data since the instrument became operational on August 25. Yellow and red colors represent areas of higher salinity, with blues and purples indicating areas of lower salinity.
Aquarius is a focused effort to measure Sea Surface Salinity and will provide the global view of salinity variability needed for climate studies. The mission is a collaboration between NASA and the Space Agency of Argentina (Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales).