Influence of river runoff and precipitation on the seasonal and interannual variability of sea surface salinity in the eastern North Tropical Atlantic

Thouvenin-Masson, Clovis; Boutin, Jacqueline; Échevin, Vincent; Lazar, Alban; Vergely, Jean-Luc

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-1547-2024

Articles | Volume 20, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-1547-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-1547-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 6

Research article

|

28 Nov 2024

Research article |

| 28 Nov 2024

Influence of river runoff and precipitation on the seasonal and interannual variability of sea surface salinity in the eastern North Tropical Atlantic

Clovis Thouvenin-Masson, Jacqueline Boutin, Vincent Échevin, Alban Lazar, and Jean-Luc Vergely

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-1547-2024-supplement

Data sets

The Salinity Pilot-Mission Exploitation Platform (Pi-MEP): A Hub for Validation and Exploitation of Satellite Sea Surface Salinity Data (https://pimep.ifremer.fr/diffusion/data/cci-l4-esa-merged-oi-v3.2-7dr/argo/) S. Guimbard et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13224600

Supporting datasets used in the Geophysical Research - Oceans entitled "Variability of dissolved oxygen in the bottom layer of the southern Senegalese shelf" Alban Lazar et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4095436

ESA Sea Surface Salinity Climate Change Initiative (Sea_Surface_Salinity_cci): weekly and monthly sea surface salinity products, v03.21, for 2010 to 2020 J. Boutin et al. https://doi.org/10.5285/5920a2c77e3c45339477acd31ce62c3c

Complete ERA5 from 1940: Fifth generation of ECMWF atmospheric reanalyses of the global climate H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.143582cf

GPM IMERG Final Precipitation L3 1 day 0.1 degree x 0.1 degree V07 G. J. Huffman et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/GPM/IMERGDF/DAY/07

Global Ocean Physics Reanalysis EU Copernicus Marine Service Product https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00021

GloFAS-ERA5 operational global river discharge reanalysis 1979-present (https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/CEMS/MARS) S. Harrigan et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2043-2020

Sea Surface Salinity data from Voluntary Observing Ships Network T. Delcroix et al. https://doi.org/10.6096/SSS-LEGOS

Short summary

We focus on understanding the impact of river runoff and precipitation on sea surface salinity (SSS) in the eastern North Tropical Atlantic (e-NTA) region off northwestern Africa. By analyzing regional simulations and observational data, we find that river flows significantly influence SSS variability, particularly after the rainy season. Our findings underscore that a main source of uncertainty representing SSS variability in this region is from river runoff estimates.