Yi Chao, Adjunct Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science (UCLA) and JIFRESSE Visiting Researcher is the Project Scientist for JPL’s recently launched (June 9, 2011) Aquarius Mission. The mission’s objective is to collect data on varying sea surface salinity levels, to improve understanding about ocean circulation, and to understand how these changes affect the global water cycle and climate change. News coverage about the mission is available at the following links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6). Aquarius is a joint mission between NASA and the Argentina Space Agency (Link).