Aquarius V5.0: 28-Day Running Mean Ocean Wind Speed from Descending Passes

Aquarius Level 3 data provides ocean surface wind speed at a 1-degree spatial resolution, averaged over daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal scales. This specific dataset is the 28-Day running mean product derived solely from satellite Descending passes, representing the official end-of-mission public release (version 5.0) from the NASA/CONAE AQUARIUS/SAC-D mission. The instrument uses three radiometers at 1.413 GHz and a 1.26 GHz scatterometer for surface roughness correction.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term ocean wind speed trends based on 28-day running mean averages.
• Studying spatial wind patterns using the 1-degree gridded standard mapped image data.
• Validating ocean surface models with wind speed data corrected for surface roughness via scatterometer backscatter.
• Investigating satellite retrieval performance by comparing data from Descending passes only.

Strengths

• Represents the official end-of-mission public data release (version 5.0) from a NASA/CONAE satellite mission.
• Provides data at multiple temporal scales (daily, 7-day, monthly, seasonal) and a consistent 1-degree spatial resolution.
• Utilizes a sophisticated instrument suite with three radiometers and a dedicated scatterometer for surface roughness correction.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all platforms.
• The most recent update date conflicts between sources (2026 vs. 2015), suggesting potential metadata inconsistency.
• The dataset is limited to wind speed retrievals from satellite Descending passes, excluding Ascending passes.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Data gathered by the Aquarius instrument onboard the AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite, using radiometers and a scatterometer.

Freshness

Last updated dates conflict: one source lists 2026-03-13, another lists 2015-06-07.

Geography

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