Aquarius V5.0: Daily Rain-Flagged Sea Surface Salinity

Daily gridded sea surface salinity data at 1-degree spatial resolution is produced from the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite, a joint NASA and CONAE mission. The dataset incorporates rain-flagged corrections derived from a 1.26 GHz scatterometer and three radiometers measuring brightness temperature at 1.413 GHz across a 370 km swath. It supports analysis of ocean salinity patterns over daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal timescales.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global ocean salinity patterns based on daily, gridded 1-degree resolution data.
• Correcting sea surface salinity estimates for rain effects using scatterometer backscatter measurements.
• Analyzing seasonal and interannual salinity variability from the multi-temporal (daily, 7-day, monthly, seasonal) data products.
• Validating ocean circulation and climate models with satellite-derived salinity observations.

Strengths

• Provides data at four standardized temporal scales (daily, 7-day, monthly, seasonal) for flexible analysis.
• Employs a multi-instrument approach, using three radiometers and a scatterometer for improved salinity estimation and rain-flagging.
• Represents an official Version 5.0 release, indicating a mature, processed data product.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low; specific column names, row counts, and exact file sizes are not provided in any source.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2026-03-13 on datagov vs. 2015-06-07 on nasa_earthdata) create uncertainty about data currency.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without details, requiring user investigation.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the Aquarius instrument onboard the AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite.

Freshness

2026-03-13 17:25:55.206325

Geography

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