NASA and CONAE's Aquarius/SAC-D satellite mission provides monthly global maps of ocean surface wind speed at a 1-degree spatial resolution. This version 5.0 dataset represents the official end-of-mission public release, containing data averaged from ascending satellite passes. The data is derived from a three-beam radiometer and scatterometer system measuring brightness temperature and ocean backscatter.
Use Cases
- Modeling global wind stress patterns using the 1-degree gridded wind speed data for climate studies.
- Validating numerical weather prediction models by comparing forecasted winds against the satellite-derived monthly averaged wind speed maps.
- Analyzing seasonal wind variability by utilizing the monthly and seasonal averaged time scales provided in the dataset.
- Studying surface roughness corrections for salinity estimation by correlating wind speed data with the co-located scatterometer backscatter measurements at 1.26 GHz.
Strengths
- Global spatial coverage at a consistent 1-degree grid resolution.
- Data represents the final, version 5.0 official release from the Aquarius/SAC-D mission.
- Includes data averaged over daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal time scales for temporal analysis.
- Derived from a multi-instrument system with three radiometer beams and a scatterometer for correction.
Limitations
- Dataset temporal coverage is limited to the Aquarius mission lifetime, ending in 2015.
- Spatial resolution of 1-degree (~111 km) may be too coarse for regional or coastal studies.
- Product uses only ascending satellite passes, potentially missing diurnal cycle effects captured by descending passes.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA and the Argentinian Space Agency (CONAE) via the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite mission.
- Collection Method
- Remote sensing data from three push-broom radiometers at 1.413 GHz and a 1.26 GHz scatterometer, processed into gridded, averaged products.
- Time Range
- Covers the operational period of the Aquarius instrument, culminating in the final V5.0 release (specific start date unknown, end circa 2015).
- Freshness
- Final update was for the official V5.0 release in June 2015; no new data is expected.
- Geography
- Global ocean coverage.