Sea surface salinity estimation in the center of Seto Inland Sea using in situ reflectance and water quality data from FY2015 to FY2016

Sea surface salinity (SSS) is playing a critical role for studying biological and physical processes in the ocean. The objective of this study is to establish a model for estimating SSS using in situ measurement datasets from FY2015 to FY2016 in Seto Inland Sea. To estimate SSS, we performed a bio-optical model combined with the CDOM absorption coefficient at 440 nm (ay(440)) as a proxy. Results showed that the estimated ay(440) had a reversely linear relationship with in situ SSS using winter datasets (R
²
=0.66), which indicated the ay(440) is potential for modeling to estimate SSS, furthermore, the bio-optical model can be used for water quality assessment in Seto Inland Sea.