Aquarius V5.0: Sea Surface Salinity & Wind Speed from Satellite

Version 5.0 Aquarius Level 2 data contains sea surface salinity and wind speed derived from three radiometers and a scatterometer on the AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite. Each data file covers one 98-minute orbit, with radiometer footprints ranging from 76x94 km to 96x156 km, providing a total cross-track swath of 370 km. Enhancements over the previous version include an improved geophysical model for SST bias, estimates of salinity uncertainties, and a new spiciness variable.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global sea surface salinity patterns based on the three radiometer beams.
• Correcting salinity estimates for surface roughness using the 1.26 GHz scatterometer's ocean backscatter data.
• Analyzing brightness temperature (TH and TV) at 1.413 GHz for radiometric calibration and validation.
• Studying ocean spiciness and its variability using the newly included variable in version 5.0.
• Assimilating orbital swath data into ocean circulation and climate models based on the 98-minute orbit files.

Strengths

• Data is from the official third release (v5.0) of the NASA/CONAE AQUARIUS/SAC-D mission, indicating a mature, validated product.
• Provides multiple geophysical variables including sea surface salinity, wind speed, and horizontal/vertical brightness temperatures from three distinct radiometers.
• Includes estimates of systematic and random uncertainty components for sea surface salinity, enhancing reliability for quantitative analysis.

Limitations

• Critical metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are not provided on any platform, hindering precise data assessment.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between sources (2026-03-13 on Data.gov vs. 2015-06-07 on NASA Earthdata), creating uncertainty about data currency.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms, requiring users to investigate further.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the AQUARIUS/SAC-D spacecraft, using three push-broom radiometers and a scatterometer.

Freshness

2026-03-13 17:31:48.882084

Geography

Global ocean coverage from satellite orbit with a 370 km cross-track swath.