Aquarius: Sea Surface Density Gridded Data from Satellite Radiometers

Aquarius Level 3 data provides 1-degree spatial resolution maps of sea surface density, derived from satellite-measured brightness temperature and backscatter. This version 5.0 product is a 28-day running mean created exclusively from Ascending pass retrievals, using TEOS-10 with collocated sea surface temperature. The data originates from the NASA-CONAE AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite, which uses three radiometers and a scatterometer across a 370 km swath.

Use Cases

• Modeling global ocean circulation and water mass formation based on gridded sea surface density data.
• Studying seasonal and interannual variability in ocean density based on the 28-day running mean time scale.
• Validating or calibrating other ocean salinity or density models using the TEOS-10 derived standard.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of density fronts and gradients based on the 1-degree gridded mapped images.

Strengths

• Data is derived from a dedicated satellite instrument (Aquarius) with three radiometers and a scatterometer for surface roughness correction.
• Provides a standardized, gridded product at 1-degree spatial resolution, facilitating large-scale analysis.
• Uses the internationally recognized TEOS-10 standard for deriving seawater properties.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality and structure require manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred from file contents.
• The product uses only Ascending pass retrievals, which may introduce specific temporal sampling biases.

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 platform's radiometers and scatterometer.

Time Range

Temporal coverage is not explicitly stated, but data is averaged over daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal scales.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 14:56:16.530205; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global ocean coverage, as implied by a satellite swath of 370 km and gridded mapping.