Regarding the satellite data used in this study, the authors would like to acknowledge the following entities: the MODIS Atmosphere Science Team and the MODIS Adaptive Processing System (MODAPS); the NASA EOSDIS Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Centre (PO.DAAC) (http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/ SeaSurfaceSalinity/Aquarius); the Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) and the Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The CCMP version 2.0 vector wind analyses were produced by Remote Sensing Systems (www.remss.com) and the CMAP precipitation data were provided by NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSD, Boulder, Colorado, USA (http://www.esrl. noaa.gov/psd/).