Aquarius satellite radiometers measured sea surface salinity across a 370 km swath using three beams at 29, 38, and 46-degree incidence angles. This version 5.0 dataset provides annual, gridded 1-degree resolution maps derived exclusively from ascending passes, with data processed through June 2015. The mission was a collaboration between NASA and Argentina's CONAE space agency.
Use Cases
- Analyze annual sea surface salinity patterns using the 1-degree gridded data to study ocean freshwater fluxes.
- Validate ocean circulation models by comparing simulated salinity against the satellite-derived rain-flagged salinity product.
- Investigate the impact of surface roughness on salinity retrieval by utilizing the collocated 1.26 GHz scatterometer backscatter data.
- Study diurnal or seasonal salinity variability by comparing this ascending-pass-only dataset with complementary descending-pass data.
- Assess long-term salinity trends in specific ocean basins using the version 5.0 data record.
Strengths
- Data is gridded at a consistent 1-degree spatial resolution for global analysis.
- Utilizes measurements from three separate radiometer beams (29°, 38°, 46°) for retrieval robustness.
- Incorporates a dedicated scatterometer for surface roughness correction, improving accuracy.
- Product is specifically rain-flagged, filtering out data contaminated by precipitation.
Limitations
- Dataset is limited to ascending satellite passes only, providing incomplete daily spatial coverage.
- Temporal coverage ends in 2015, making the data stale for contemporary climate studies.
- The 1-degree resolution may be too coarse for studying fine-scale coastal or eddy processes.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA and Argentina's Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) via the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite.
- Collection Method
- Satellite remote sensing using three L-band radiometers and a scatterometer for brightness temperature and backscatter measurement.
- Time Range
- Covers the operational period of the Aquarius instrument up to 2015.
- Freshness
- Last updated in 2015; no ongoing updates expected as the Aquarius mission ended.
- Geography
- Global ocean coverage within the satellite's 370 km cross-track swath.