THE CENTRAL FLORIDA REMOTE SENSING LAB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA IN COLLABORATION WITH THE APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY (APL) FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON ARE PLEASE TO SUBMIT THIS NOI TO INVESTIGATE RAIN-INDUCED SEA SURFACE SALINITY STRATIFICATION. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO CONTINUE OUR PREVIOUS INVESTIGATION SPONSORED UNDER THE ROSES-13 NRA; WHICH DEVELOPED THE RAIN IMPACT MODEL AS A QUALITY CONTROL FLAG TO IDENTIFY AQ L-2 PIXELS WHERE THERE WAS A HIGH PROBABILITY FOR STRATIFICATION. WE PROPOSE TO EXPAND OUR RIM MODEL TO PREDICT TRANSIENT NEAR-SURFACE SALINITY PROFILES IN THE PRESENCE OF RAIN AND TO PROVIDE THESE DATA TO THE OCEAN SALINITY SCIENCE TEAM FOR THEIR SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS. SATELLITE MICROWAVE RADIOMETERS (SMOS AND SMAP) MEASURE SALINITY IN THE TOP CM OF THE OCEAN; HOWEVER UNDER A VARIETY OF CONDITIONS THESE SATELLITE SALINITY MEASUREMENTS ARE NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE BULK SALINITY MEASUREMENTS AT 5-10 M DEPTHS. SINCE THIS IS NOT AN ANALYTICALLY TRACTABLE PROBLEM WE PROPOSED TO COLLABORATE WITH OCEANOGRAPHERS AT APL TO DERIVE AN EMPIRICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MICRO-SCALE AND MACRO-SCALE SALINITY EFFECTS GIVEN THE RAINFALL HISTORY OVER THE SATELLITE INSTRUMENT IFOV WHICH WILL CHARACTERIZE THE NEAR-SURFACE SALINITY PROFILE USING THE GENERALIZED OCEAN TURBULENCE MODEL (GOTM). THIS INVOLVES THE DEVELOPMENT OF A ROBUST TIME-DEPENDENT RIM DIFFUSION MODEL TO CHARACTERIZE THE NEAR-SURFACE SALINITY GIVEN SATELLITE SSS MEASUREMENTS A GLOBAL OCEAN RAINFALL PRODUCT PROVIDED BY GPM AND THE OCEAN VECTOR WINDS HISTORY. WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS MODEL WE PROPOSE: 1) TO ESTIMATE OCEAN SALINITY VERTICAL DISTRIBUTION (STRATIFICATION) IN THE FIRST FEW METERS 2) TO VALIDATE THESE SALINITY PROFILES WITH IN SITU BUOY MEASUREMENTS; 3) TO PROVIDE THESE PARAMETERS IN THE NEW SALINITY PRODUCTS TO BE DEVELOPED FROM SMAP