Aquarius Satellite Annual Sea Surface Salinity Gridded Data

Aquarius Level 3 sea surface salinity data provides gridded annual averages at 1-degree spatial resolution derived from descending satellite passes. This version 5.0 dataset is the official end-of-mission public release from the NASA-CONAE AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite mission. The data is synthesized from three radiometers and a scatterometer measuring brightness temperature and ocean backscatter for salinity estimation.

Use Cases

• Analyzing annual global sea surface salinity patterns using the 1-degree gridded data.
• Studying ocean circulation and freshwater fluxes by tracking salinity changes over time.
• Validating and calibrating oceanographic models with satellite-derived salinity measurements.
• Investigating the relationship between sea surface salinity and brightness temperature (TH, TV) from the three radiometer beams.
• Applying surface roughness corrections to salinity estimates using the 1.26 GHz scatterometer backscatter data.

Strengths

• Represents the official final data release (Version 5.0) from the AQUARIUS/SAC-D mission, ensuring a processed and validated dataset.
• Provides data from a specialized instrument suite combining three radiometers at 29, 38, and 46-degree incidence angles and a scatterometer for correction.
• Offers a consistent, gridded product at 1-degree resolution, simplifying large-scale spatial analysis.

Limitations

• Contains only descending pass data, missing ascending pass information which limits temporal sampling.
• Key metadata conflicts exist: one platform lists a last update of 2015-06-07, while another lists a future date of 2026-03-13, casting doubt on data maintenance.
• Specific row counts, file sizes, and a complete column schema are unavailable from all sources.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing using L-band radiometers and a scatterometer, processed into Level 3 gridded standard mapped images.

Time Range

Annual averages (specific years covered not stated in sources).

Freshness

2015-06-07 12:45:21

Geography

Global ocean coverage from a satellite swath of approximately 370 km (radiometers) and 390 km (scatterometer).