Aquarius: Mission-Cumulative Rain-Flagged Sea Surface Salinity Gridded Data

Aquarius Level 3 sea surface salinity data provides gridded 1-degree spatial resolution measurements averaged over daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal time scales. The dataset is the mission-cumulative, rain-flagged product from version 5.0, collected by the AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite, a joint NASA and Argentinian CONAE mission. The instrument uses three radiometers at 1.413 GHz and a 1.26 GHz scatterometer for surface roughness corrections across a 370 km swath.

Use Cases

• Modeling global ocean circulation patterns based on gridded sea surface salinity data.
• Studying the freshwater cycle and its interaction with climate using multi-temporal (daily to seasonal) averages.
• Validating and calibrating other salinity measurement systems using the satellite's radiometer and scatterometer data.
• Analyzing the impact of rainfall on sea surface salinity using the rain-flagged product feature.

Strengths

• Data is gridded at a consistent 1-degree spatial resolution for global analysis.
• Includes multi-temporal averaging (daily, 7-day, monthly, seasonal) for trend analysis.
• Derived from a dedicated satellite instrument with three radiometers and a scatterometer for correction.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and total data volume are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last updated 2026-03-13 14:56:57.437064; freshness should be verified.

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 satellite's radiometers and scatterometer.

Time Range

Mission-cumulative timeframe (specific dates not provided).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 14:56:57.437064.

Geography

Global ocean coverage.