Mission-cumulative sea surface density data from the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite mission. The dataset provides gridded 1-degree spatial resolution density estimates, averaged over daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal scales, derived from satellite-retrieved salinity and collocated sea surface temperature. This version 5.0 product is a collaborative effort between NASA and the Argentinian Space Agency CONAE, last updated in 2015.
Use Cases
- Modeling ocean circulation patterns based on gridded sea surface density data.
- Analyzing seasonal variability in ocean density based on daily to seasonal time scales.
- Studying the relationship between sea surface salinity and temperature based on derived density estimates.
- Calibrating and validating oceanographic models based on satellite-derived density maps.
Strengths
- Provides data at multiple temporal resolutions: daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal.
- Uses a 1-degree spatial grid for global mapping.
- Derived using the TEOS-10 standard from satellite salinity and ancillary SST data.
Limitations
- Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
- Last updated 2015-06-07 12:45:21; freshness should be verified.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA and CONAE's Aquarius/SAC-D satellite mission.
- Collection Method
- Satellite remote sensing using three radiometers and a scatterometer.
- Time Range
- Cumulative mission series mean.
- Geography
- Global ocean coverage with a 370 km cross-track swath.