Gridded ocean surface wind speed data at 1-degree spatial resolution, averaged monthly from satellite descending passes. This version 5.0 dataset is the official end-of-mission public release from the NASA and CONAE collaborative AQUARIUS/SAC-D mission. The data was produced using measurements from a three-radiometer push broom instrument and a scatterometer for surface roughness corrections.
Use Cases
- Analyzing monthly spatial patterns of ocean wind speed from the 1-degree gridded brightness temperature and backscatter data.
- Validating numerical weather prediction or climate model outputs against satellite-derived wind speed observations from descending passes.
- Studying long-term trends in surface wind fields using the version 5.0 time-series data averaged over monthly scales.
- Investigating the relationship between wind speed and other oceanographic variables within the instrument's 370 km cross-track swath.
Strengths
- Official end-of-mission public data release (version 5.0) ensuring a stable, final product.
- Data incorporates measurements from three radiometers and a scatterometer for surface roughness correction.
- Provides wind speed at multiple temporal scales including daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal averages.
Limitations
- Dataset is temporally stale, with last update recorded in June 2015.
- Spatial resolution is coarse at 1 degree, limiting analysis of fine-scale wind features.
- Product uses only descending pass retrievals, potentially missing diurnal cycle information present in ascending passes.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA and the Argentinian Space Agency Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) via the AQUARIUS/SAC-D mission.
- Collection Method
- Satellite remote sensing using three push-broom radiometers at 1.413 GHz and a 1.26 GHz scatterometer onboard the AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite.
- Time Range
- null
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Global ocean coverage within the instrument's 370 km cross-track swath.