Aquarius Level 3: 7-Day Running Mean Sea Surface Density from Satellite

Aquarius Level 3 data provides global sea surface density estimates at 1-degree spatial resolution. This version 5.0 product is the official end-of-mission release from the NASA-CONAE AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite, which used three radiometers and a scatterometer to measure brightness temperature and ocean backscatter. The dataset includes daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal averages, with this specific file containing the 7-day running mean.

Use Cases

• Modeling global ocean circulation patterns based on gridded sea surface density data.
• Studying salinity variations and their link to climate based on TEOS-10 derived estimates.
• Validating ocean models using satellite-measured brightness temperature and backscatter data.
• Analyzing seasonal and monthly ocean density trends based on the available time-averaged products.

Strengths

• Official end-of-mission public data release (Version 5.0) from the AQUARIUS/SAC-D mission.
• Data is derived using the TEOS-10 standard and collocated ancillary sea surface temperature.
• Spatial resolution is 1 degree, with a total instrument cross-track swath of 370 km.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic or temporal bias inherent to the satellite's coverage and mission lifetime.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Aquarius instrument's three radiometers and a scatterometer onboard the AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite.

Time Range

Covers the operational period of the AQUARIUS/SAC-D mission; specific dates are not provided.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 14:57:30.088496; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global ocean coverage.