Aquarius Level 3 Ascending Mission Cumulative Sea Surface Salinity Data

Aquarius Level 3 sea surface salinity data provides gridded 1-degree spatial resolution maps of salinity, averaged over daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal scales. This specific dataset is the mission series mean for Ascending passes from version 5.0 of the Aquarius instrument, a joint NASA and CONAE satellite mission. The data is derived from three radiometers and a scatterometer measuring brightness temperature and ocean backscatter at L-band frequencies.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global sea surface salinity patterns and their seasonal variability using the gridded 1-degree resolution data.
• Validating ocean circulation and climate models with spatially averaged salinity measurements from Ascending satellite passes.
• Studying the relationship between ocean salinity and brightness temperature (TH, TV) or backscatter measurements from the Aquarius radiometers and scatterometer.
• Investigating long-term trends in ocean salinity using the mission cumulative (mean) data product.
• Assessing surface roughness corrections in salinity retrieval algorithms via the integrated 1.26 GHz scatterometer data.

Strengths

• Data provides a standardized, gridded product at a consistent 1-degree spatial resolution, facilitating large-scale analysis.
• Salinity retrievals incorporate corrections from a dedicated scatterometer measuring ocean backscatter at 1.26 GHz.
• Dataset includes temporal aggregations at daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal scales, supporting time-series analysis.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and complete column schemas are unavailable from all provided sources.
• Sources conflict on license information, with one platform listing 'other-license-specified' and others listing none or unknown.
• Data is limited to Ascending satellite passes only, excluding Descending pass information.

Provenance

Source

NASA and the Argentinian Space Agency Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) via the AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing using three push-broom radiometers at 1.413 GHz and a scatterometer at 1.26 GHz.

Time Range

Cumulative mission series mean, covering the Aquarius operational period (specific dates not provided).

Freshness

2026-03-13 17:19:10.859214

Geography

Global ocean coverage with a total cross-track swath of 370 km from the satellite instrument.