Aquarius V5.0: Monthly Descending Sea Surface Salinity Gridded Data

Aquarius Level 3 sea surface salinity standard mapped image data provides monthly averaged salinity values at a 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/Argentinian CONAE AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite mission. The data is produced using three radiometers and a scatterometer to measure brightness temperature and ocean backscatter for surface roughness corrections.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global ocean salinity patterns based on gridded 1-degree resolution data.
• Analyzing seasonal and monthly sea surface salinity variability using averaged time scales.
• Correcting salinity estimates for surface roughness using scatterometer backscatter measurements.
• Studying ocean circulation and freshwater fluxes with satellite-derived salinity products.
• Validating ocean models with spatially mapped salinity data from a dedicated satellite mission.

Strengths

• Represents the official end-of-mission public data release (version 5.0) from a collaborative NASA/CONAE satellite project.
• Provides data at a standardized 1-degree spatial resolution across multiple averaging periods (daily, 7-day, monthly, seasonal).
• Utilizes a sophisticated instrument suite with three radiometers and a dedicated scatterometer for measurement correction.

Limitations

• Contains only retrieved values from Descending satellite passes, excluding Ascending pass data.
• Key metadata such as exact row count, column names, and file size are unspecified across all platforms.
• Update dates conflict between sources (2026 vs. 2015), indicating potential metadata inconsistency.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the AQUARIUS/SAC-D mission, using radiometers and a scatterometer.

Freshness

2026-03-13 17:16:25.863311

Geography

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