Mission-cumulative sea surface spiciness data from the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite, gridded at 1-degree spatial resolution. The dataset includes daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal averages derived from ascending passes of the satellite's three-beam radiometer system. This version 5.0 product was released by NASA and CONAE, with data last updated in June 2015.
Use Cases
- Analyzing spiciness anomalies across ocean basins using the 1-degree gridded data.
- Studying seasonal and interannual variability in ocean water mass properties from the daily to seasonal time-averaged products.
- Validating ocean circulation models by comparing modeled spiciness fields against the mission-cumulative satellite observations.
- Investigating the relationship between sea surface spiciness and other oceanographic variables in the Aquarius instrument's 370 km cross-track swath.
Strengths
- Data is gridded at a consistent 1-degree spatial resolution for global analysis.
- Includes multiple temporal aggregations: daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal averages.
- Derived from a dedicated satellite instrument with three radiometers measuring brightness temperature at 1.413 GHz.
Limitations
- Data is mission-cumulative only, with no individual overpasses, limiting fine temporal analysis.
- Limited to ascending satellite passes, potentially missing diurnal or pass-direction specific signals.
- Last updated in 2015, making the dataset temporally stale for current climate studies.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA and the Argentinian Space Agency (CONAE) via the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite.
- Collection Method
- Remote sensing data from the Aquarius instrument's three radiometers and scatterometer, processed into Level 3 standard mapped images.
- Time Range
- Covers the full Aquarius mission duration.
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Global ocean coverage within the instrument's 370 km swath.