Global sea surface density data derived from the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite mission. This Level 3 product provides a 7-day running mean mapped at a 1-degree spatial resolution, based on version 5.0, the official end-of-mission release. The dataset is a collaborative effort between NASA and the Argentinian Space Agency (CONAE), with the final release published in June 2015.
Use Cases
- Analyzing spatial patterns of sea surface density derived from Aquarius salinity and collocated ancillary SST.
- Tracking temporal changes in ocean density using the 7-day running mean gridded product.
- Studying ocean frontal systems and water mass distribution from 1-degree resolution global maps.
- Validating ocean circulation models with satellite-based density estimates calculated via TEOS-10.
Strengths
- Official end-of-mission public data release (version 5.0).
- Global coverage with a 1-degree spatial resolution grid.
- Data derived from three radiometer beams providing a 370 km cross-track swath.
Limitations
- Data collection ended with the mission, providing no updates after 2015.
- Specific row count, sample size, and file size details are unknown.
- Density estimates rely on collocated ancillary SST data from another product, introducing potential integration errors.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA and CONAE's Aquarius/SAC-D satellite mission.
- Collection Method
- Derived from satellite radiometer brightness temperature measurements at 1.413 GHz and scatterometer data at 1.26 GHz.
- Time Range
- Mission lifetime, specific start date unknown.
- Freshness
- Final release published on 2015-06-07; no ongoing updates.
- Geography
- Global ocean coverage.