Aquarius Satellite 7-Day Descending Sea Surface Salinity Data

7-day averaged sea surface salinity data from the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite mission, a collaboration between NASA and Argentina's CONAE. The dataset provides gridded salinity measurements at 1-degree spatial resolution, processed with rain-flagging and surface roughness corrections from a co-located scatterometer. It represents the version 5.0 product, specifically using descending pass retrievals.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global ocean salinity patterns and freshwater fluxes using the gridded 1-degree salinity data.
• Studying the relationship between sea surface salinity and climate variables like rainfall, using the rain-flagged data product.
• Validating and calibrating ocean circulation models with satellite-derived salinity measurements.
• Investigating radiometer and scatterometer signal processing for geophysical retrieval, using the documented TH, TV, and backscatter measurements.

Strengths

• Data incorporates corrections for surface roughness using a dedicated 1.26 GHz scatterometer, improving accuracy.
• Provides a consistent 7-day temporal composite at a defined 1-degree spatial resolution, facilitating time-series analysis.
• Represents a finalized data product (Version 5.0) from a major NASA-CONAE satellite mission.

Limitations

• Spatial coverage is limited to the satellite's 370 km cross-track swath, requiring multiple passes for global maps.
• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are not provided on any platform.
• Conflicting license information exists between platforms (other-license-specified vs. null).

Provenance

Source

NASA and the Argentinian Space Agency (CONAE) via the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite mission.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing using three L-band (1.413 GHz) radiometers and a 1.26 GHz scatterometer for correction.

Time Range

Specific date range not provided in sources; dataset represents 7-day composites.

Freshness

2026-03-13 17:26:16.212399

Geography

Global ocean coverage within the instrument's 370 km swath, gridded to 1-degree resolution.