Aquarius CAP V5.0: Monthly Global Sea Surface Salinity

NASA and CONAE's AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite provides monthly global sea surface salinity data at a 1-degree spatial resolution, rain-corrected via the Combined Active Passive algorithm. This version 5.0 product incorporates data from both a radiometer and scatterometer to simultaneously retrieve salinity and wind speed, with improvements including updated geophysical models and Canadian Meteorological Center sea surface temperature data. The dataset is a standard mapped image product representing gridded, spatially averaged measurements.

Use Cases

• Monitoring large-scale ocean salinity patterns and freshwater fluxes based on gridded 1-degree resolution data.
• Validating and improving oceanographic and climate models using satellite-derived sea surface salinity.
• Studying air-sea interactions by analyzing co-retrieved salinity and wind speed data from the CAP algorithm.
• Assessing long-term changes in global salinity for climate change research using the monthly time-averaged product.

Strengths

• Data is derived from a sophisticated dual-instrument (radiometer and scatterometer) satellite system, the AQUARIUS/SAC-D, a NASA-CONAE collaboration.
• Algorithm version 5.0 includes specific improvements: 4th-order harmonic Geophysical Model Functions and a switch to Canadian Meteorological Center sea surface temperature data.
• Provides consistent, gridded global coverage at a defined 1-degree spatial resolution for ease of use in models.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low: specific column names, row counts, file sizes, and precise temporal coverage are not provided in the sources.
• A conflict exists in the 'last updated' metadata: one source lists 2026-03-13, while another lists 2015-06-01, casting doubt on data maintenance.
• The spatial resolution (1 degree) may be too coarse for studying fine-scale coastal or mesoscale oceanographic processes.

Provenance

Source

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), developed for NASA and the Argentinian Space Agency (CONAE).

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the AQUARIUS/SAC-D instrument, using the Combined Active Passive algorithm to process radiometer and scatterometer data.

Time Range

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Freshness

2026-03-13 15:06:38.211405 (Note: conflicts with a 2015 date from another source)

Geography

Global ocean coverage.