A Development for Sea Surface Salinity Algorithm Using GOCI in the East China Sea

The Changjiang Diluted Water (CDW) spreads over the East China Sea every summer and significantly affects the sea surface salinity changes in the seas around Jeju Island and the southern coast of Korea peninsula. Sometimes its effect extends to the eastern coast of Korea peninsula through the Korea Strait. Specifically, the CDW has a significant impact on marine physics and ecology and causes damage to fisheries and aquaculture. However, due to the limited field surveys, continuous observation of the CDW in the East China Sea is practically difficult. Many studies have been conducted using satellite measurements to monitor CDW distribution in near-real time. In this study, an algorithm for estimating Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) in the East China Sea was developed using the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI). The Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network (MPNN) method was employed for developing an algorithm, and Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) SSS data was selected for the output. In the previous study, an algorithm for estimating SSS using GOCI was trained by 2016 observation data. By comparison, the train data period was extended from 2015 to 2020 to improve the algorithm performance. The validation results with the National Institute of Fisheries Science (NIFS) serial oceanographic observation data from 2011 to 2019 show 0.61 of coefficient of determination (R2) and 1.08 psu of Root Mean Square Errors (RMSE). This study was carried out to develop an algorithm for monitoring the surface salinity of the East China Sea using GOCI and is expected to contribute to the development of the algorithm for estimating SSS by using GOCI-II.