Aquarius V5.0: Daily Global Sea Surface Salinity from Satellite

Global ocean coverage is provided by this Level 3 mapped dataset of daily sea surface salinity (SSS) at 1-degree spatial resolution. It represents the official end-of-mission public release (Version 5.0) from the NASA-CONAE AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite, which used three radiometers and a scatterometer to measure brightness temperature and ocean backscatter for salinity retrieval. The data is also averaged over 7-day, monthly, and seasonal timescales.

Use Cases

• Monitoring large-scale salinity gradients and freshwater plumes based on 1-degree gridded SSS maps.
• Validating and calibrating ocean circulation models using daily satellite-derived salinity time series.
• Studying the relationship between sea surface roughness and salinity retrieval using scatterometer backscatter data.
• Analyzing seasonal and interannual variability in global ocean salinity from the multi-scale averaged products.

Strengths

• Represents the official, final public data release (Version 5.0) from the AQUARIUS/SAC-D mission.
• Provides data at multiple temporal scales: daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal averages.
• Derived from a sophisticated instrument suite with three radiometers at specific incidence angles (29°, 38°, 46°) and a dedicated scatterometer for roughness correction.

Limitations

• Conflicting 'last updated' dates across platforms (2026-03-13 on datagov vs. 2015-06-07 on nasa_earthdata) create uncertainty about metadata freshness.
• Specific column names, row counts, and file sizes are not provided in the available metadata.
• The dataset's temporal coverage (start and end dates) is not explicitly stated.

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 spacecraft, using L-band radiometers and a scatterometer.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-03-13 17:19:41.121252

Geography

Global