Aquarius L3: 7-Day Descending Ocean Surface Wind Speed Gridded Data

Aquarius Level 3 data provides gridded ocean surface wind speed at a 1-degree spatial resolution, averaged over a 7-day temporal scale from satellite descending passes. This version 5.0 dataset is the official end-of-mission release from the NASA-CONAE AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite, which used a three-radiometer push-broom instrument and a scatterometer for measurement. The data is derived from brightness temperature and backscatter measurements to correct for surface roughness in salinity estimation.

Use Cases

• Analyzing weekly ocean wind speed patterns based on 1-degree gridded data.
• Validating ocean circulation and weather models using satellite-derived wind measurements.
• Studying air-sea interaction processes for climate research based on radiometer and scatterometer data.
• Correlating wind speed with ocean salinity estimations where surface roughness corrections are applied.

Strengths

• Represents the official end-of-mission public data release (version 5.0) from a major NASA-CONAE satellite collaboration.
• Provides data at a consistent 1-degree spatial resolution and 7-day temporal averaging, facilitating large-scale analysis.
• Derived from a sophisticated instrument suite with three radiometers and a dedicated scatterometer for surface correction.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low: column names, row counts, and exact file sizes are unknown across all platforms.
• Conflicting freshness indicators: one platform lists an update in 2026 (likely an error), while another shows 2015, suggesting the core data is static but metadata may be inconsistently maintained.
• Limited to descending satellite passes only, which may not capture diurnal cycles or require combination with other data for full temporal coverage.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the AQUARIUS/SAC-D mission, using three radiometers at 1.413 GHz and a scatterometer at 1.26 GHz.

Time Range

Coverage corresponds to the AQUARIUS/SAC-D mission lifetime, though specific start and end dates are not provided.

Freshness

2026-03-13 17:03:50.133610 (Note: This date from datagov is likely a metadata update error; the NASA Earthdata platform lists 2015, which aligns with the end-of-mission data release.)

Geography

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