Affordable Microwave Salinity Sensor for Near-Shore Platforms

This Phase I SBIR proposal describes the development of a low-cost microwave salinity sensor specifically designed for single point sea surface salinity (SSS) measurements from a buoy, ship or ocean tower. Existing airborne L-band radiometers developed by our company and others have demonstrated the practicality of mapping SSS from airborne platforms. These complex radiometers employ multi-beam antennas with multiple receiver channels to create push-broom images of SSS with better than one second time resolution. Single point, coarse time resolution measurements from near-surface platforms can be accomplished with a much simpler instrument. Phase I research will focus on the design of a compact, single-beam antenna and integrated L-band radiometer module, and issues related to integration of the radiometer with the buoy¿s data system and with auxiliary sensors required for accurate SSS retrievals.