Aquarius Seasonal Sea Surface Salinity Climatology From Satellite Radiometers

Seasonal climatology maps of global sea surface salinity are derived from the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite's radiometer and scatterometer instruments. The data provides gridded 1-degree spatial resolution salinity values, averaged over seasonal timescales and corrected for rainfall effects. This version 5.0 product is a collaborative effort between NASA and Argentina's CONAE, with data last updated in June 2015.

Use Cases

• Analyzing seasonal patterns in global sea surface salinity using the gridded 1-degree seasonal climatology maps.
• Validating ocean circulation and climate models by comparing simulated salinity against the satellite-derived rain-flagged salinity product.
• Studying the impact of rainfall on ocean surface salinity by utilizing the dataset's specific rain-flagging corrections.
• Investigating long-term changes in ocean salinity by using the seasonal climatology as a baseline for comparison with newer data.

Strengths

• Provides global spatial coverage with a 1-degree gridded resolution for consistent analysis.
• Incorporates data from three radiometers and a scatterometer for robust salinity estimation and surface roughness correction.
• Offers data averaged over seasonal timescales, suitable for climatological studies.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage is limited to the Aquarius mission period, ending with the last update in 2015, making it stale for current analysis.
• Specific row count, sample size, and data volume are unknown, limiting assessment of statistical power.
• The 1-degree spatial resolution may be too coarse for studying mesoscale or coastal oceanographic features.

Provenance

Source

NASA and Argentina's Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) via the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite.

Collection Method

Measured by satellite-borne radiometers at 1.413 GHz and a scatterometer at 1.26 GHz, processed into gridded Level 3 standard mapped images.

Time Range

Covers the operational period of the Aquarius instrument up to its final processing in 2015.

Freshness

Data last updated in June 2015; no ongoing update frequency specified.

Geography

Global ocean coverage from the satellite's 370 km cross-track swath.