Aquarius V5.0: Monthly Climatology of Ocean Surface Wind Speeds

Aquarius Official Release Level 3 Wind Speed Standard Mapped Image Ascending Monthly Climatology Data V5.0 provides gridded ocean surface wind speeds at 1-degree spatial resolution. This dataset is derived from the final public release of the NASA-CONAE AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite mission, using only ascending pass data from its three-beam radiometer and scatterometer system. It represents a long-term averaged monthly climatology product for wind speed.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term mean wind conditions for climate model validation based on the monthly climatology time scale.
• Studying ocean surface roughness corrections for salinity retrieval, referencing the scatterometer backscatter data.
• Mapping global wind speed patterns at 1-degree resolution for use in oceanographic and meteorological research.
• Investigating satellite instrument performance and retrieval algorithms for the Aquarius mission's three radiometer beams.

Strengths

• Represents the official end-of-mission public data release (Version 5.0) from the collaborative NASA-CONAE satellite mission.
• Provides data at a consistent 1-degree spatial resolution across multiple averaging periods, including this monthly climatology.
• Derived from a sophisticated instrument suite with detailed specifications, including three radiometers at 29, 38, and 46-degree incidence angles and a 1.26 GHz scatterometer.

Limitations

• Column names and specific data structure are unknown, limiting precise understanding of the file contents.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2015 on NASA Earthdata and 2026 on Data.gov), creating uncertainty about metadata freshness.
• The dataset is limited to Ascending pass retrievals, omitting data from Descending passes.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the AQUARIUS/SAC-D mission's radiometers and scatterometer.

Time Range

Monthly climatology (long-term average), specific observation period not stated.

Freshness

2026-03-13 17:09:16.697766 (Data.gov), though this conflicts with a 2015 date from another source.

Geography

Global ocean coverage, with a total instrument cross-track swath of 370 km (scatterometer swath ~390 km).