Aquarius Level 3: Seasonal Ocean Wind Speed Climatology from Satellite

Seasonal climatology maps of ocean surface wind speed at 1-degree spatial resolution, derived from descending passes of the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite. The data is the official end-of-mission public release (Version 5.0) from a NASA and CONAE collaboration, using a radiometer and scatterometer operating at L-band frequencies. The product is averaged over seasonal time scales and last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling seasonal wind patterns over oceans based on gridded climatology data.
• Validating other satellite or model wind products based on the official end-of-mission Aquarius release.
• Analyzing wind speed variability for climate studies based on seasonal averages.
• Studying the relationship between surface roughness and radiometer signals based on the described scatterometer corrections.

Strengths

• Represents the official end-of-mission public data release (Version 5.0) from the Aquarius/SAC-D mission.
• Provides data at a consistent 1-degree spatial resolution, which suggests a standardized global grid.
• Derived from a dedicated satellite instrument suite, including three radiometers and a scatterometer for surface roughness correction.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific analytical needs.
• The dataset appears to contain only data from Descending satellite passes, which may not provide a complete diurnal picture.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Aquarius instrument onboard the AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite.

Time Range

Seasonal climatology, suggesting long-term averaged conditions, but specific years are not stated.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 14:41:24.343757; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global ocean coverage, inferred from the satellite's 370 km cross-track swath and gridded product description.