SALINITY FROM SPACE

"Controllers at the Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (Conae) ground station in Cordova province, Argentina, and at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., are well into a 65-day commissioning period for the Aquarius/SAC-D ocean-salinity orbiter after its launch June 10 on a Delta II from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Tests of the spacecraft are underway, and it will be moved to its operational polar orbit at an altitude of 657 km (408 mi.)."
SAC-D (Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas)
"The data will help scientists map ocean currents and gauge the effects of ice-cap melting on ocean salinity."
"..the instrument suite - developed jointly by NASA's JPL and Goddard Space Flight Center - also carries a radar scatteronemeter. While the instrument was built at JPL, the SAC-D (Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas) is the latest spacecraft built by Argentina's Conae for Earth observation (AW&ST May 23, p.17) ".
Aviation Week & Space Technology, June 20 2011, p.34