CYGNSS Level 1: Satellite Radar Cross Section Maps for Ocean Surface Monitoring

Version 3.0 geo-located Delay Doppler Maps (DDMs) calibrated into Power Received and Bistatic Radar Cross Section from the CYGNSS satellite constellation. The dataset includes other scientific parameters like Normalized BRCS, Delay Doppler Map Average, and Leading Edge Slope, plus quality flags, error estimates, and geolocation parameters. NASA provides up to 8 netCDF files daily, with a latency of approximately 6 days from the last measurement.

Use Cases

• Calibrating ocean surface roughness models based on Bistatic Radar Cross Section (BRCS) measurements.
• Monitoring tropical storm and hurricane conditions based on the dataset's higher retrieval frequency during such events.
• Validating satellite-derived oceanographic data using comparisons with NOAA WAVEWATCH-3 model outputs mentioned in the description.
• Analyzing GPS signal strength variations for radar calibration using the real-time transmit power correction feature.

Strengths

• Version 3.0 supersedes Version 2.1 with improved calibration, including real-time GPS signal strength correction.
• Includes validated Normalized Bistatic Radar Cross Section (NBRCS) using comparisons with a large population of modeled values.
• Provides up to 8 data files daily under nominal conditions, with increased frequency during tropical storms.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• File formats listed include JPEG, BIN, TEXT, ISO, HTML, PDF, but the primary scientific data format (netCDF) is only mentioned in the description, requiring format verification.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data retrieved by the Delay Doppler Mapping Instrument aboard the CYGNSS satellite constellation.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:19:56.886290; freshness should be verified.