Aquarius Satellite Mission Cumulative Ocean Wind Speed Grid

Global ocean surface wind speed data is provided as a gridded Level 3 product from the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite mission, a NASA and CONAE collaboration. The dataset contains mission-series mean wind speeds at a 1-degree spatial resolution, averaged across daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal timescales. It represents the cumulative product for version 5.0 of the Aquarius data release.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term average wind speed patterns over global oceans using the gridded mission-series mean.
• Validating numerical weather prediction or climate model outputs against satellite-observed wind fields.
• Studying seasonal wind variability by comparing the monthly and seasonal averaged data products.
• Investigating the relationship between surface roughness (from scatterometer backscatter) and wind speed for salinity estimation corrections.

Strengths

• Data is derived from a dedicated satellite instrument with three radiometers and a scatterometer, providing multi-angle measurements.
• Offers wind speed at multiple temporal aggregations (daily, 7-day, monthly, seasonal) for analysis at different scales.
• Represents a finalized, official mission cumulative product (Version 5.0).

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and complete column names are not provided by any source.
• Conflicting last-updated dates exist between platforms (2015 vs. 2026), creating uncertainty about data currency.

Provenance

Source

NASA and the Argentinian Space Agency (CONAE) via the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite mission.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing using three radiometers at 1.413 GHz and a scatterometer at 1.26 GHz.

Time Range

Mission series cumulative mean (coverage period not explicitly stated).

Freshness

2026-03-13 17:07:44.175906

Geography

Global ocean coverage.