Aquarius Satellite 28-Day Mean Sea Surface Salinity Maps

Aquarius Level 3 data provides global, gridded sea surface salinity (SSS) measurements at 1-degree spatial resolution, averaged over a 28-day running mean from descending satellite passes. The dataset represents the official end-of-mission public release (Version 5.0) from the NASA and CONAE collaborative AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite mission. It was last updated in the NASA Earthdata system in June 2015.

Use Cases

• Analyze global 28-day running mean sea surface salinity patterns from the gridded 1-degree resolution data.
• Validate ocean circulation and climate models using the satellite-derived salinity measurements from descending passes.
• Study seasonal and interannual salinity variability using the time-averaged product spanning the mission's temporal coverage.
• Correlate salinity data with other oceanographic variables using the geospatially mapped grid structure.

Strengths

• Gridded data at a consistent 1-degree spatial resolution for global analysis.
• Salinity values are derived from three radiometers and a scatterometer for surface roughness correction.
• Represents the official, final version (5.0) of the mission's public data release.

Limitations

• Data is temporally stale, with the last update recorded in 2015.
• Product uses only descending satellite passes, which may introduce sampling bias.
• Specific row count, temporal range, and sample size are not provided in the input.

Provenance

Source

AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite mission, a collaboration between NASA and Argentina's CONAE.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing using three L-band radiometers and a scatterometer measuring brightness temperature and ocean backscatter.

Time Range

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Freshness

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Geography

Global ocean coverage from the satellite's 370 km cross-track swath.