Climate change initiative+ (CCI+) phase 1 sea surface salinity: Product validation and intercomparison report (PVIR)

The purpose of this document (D4.1 Product Validation and Intercomparison Report, PVIR, document version v3.0) is to describe the results of the validation of the Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) products obtained during the ESA CCI+ SSS project when compared with other data sources. The PVIR is a requirement of the Statement of Work (Task 3 SoW ref. ESA-CCI-PRGM-EOPS-SW-17- 0032). The PVIR contains a list of all reference datasets used for validation of each SSS product. This report contains an assessment of both the level 4 and level 3 (ascending, descending and combined ascending plus descending) products for weekly and monthly time periods. The products are based on a temporal optimal interpolation of SSS data measured by SMOS, Aquarius-SAC and SMAP satellite missions. All products are gridded on an equal area EASE-2 grid with a grid resolution of ~25 km