CYGNSS Satellite Ocean Wind Speed and Wave Slope Gridded Data

Average wind speed and mean square slope measurements are provided on a 0.2x0.2 degree latitude-longitude grid, derived from the CYGNSS satellite constellation's Delay Doppler Mapping Instrument. The dataset is a reanalysis product with improved calibration accuracy and stability over previous versions, produced daily with a 1 to 2 month latency. It is generated by POCLOUD from NASA's CYGNSS Level 1 data.

Use Cases

• Modeling global ocean wind patterns using the gridded average wind speed data.
• Analyzing sea state roughness via the mean square slope (MSS) feature.
• Studying long-term climate trends with the daily time-series of wind and wave data.
• Investigating tropical cyclone environments, though the dataset is biased toward fully developed seas and excludes a Young Seas with Limited Fetch product.

Strengths

• Data is provided on a consistent 0.2x0.2 degree global grid.
• Calibration accuracy and long-term stability are improved over the SDR v3.0 version.
• A single netCDF-4 file is produced for each day of operation.

Limitations

• The trackwise correction algorithm biases data toward fully developed sea states, underestimating conditions in Young Seas with Limited Fetch (YSLF).
• The correction cannot be applied to all SDR v3.0 Level 1 data, resulting in a loss of some samples present in the earlier version.
• Latency of approximately 1 to 2 months limits use for real-time monitoring.

Provenance

Source

NASA CYGNSS satellite constellation and Level 1 data.

Collection Method

Direct processing and binning of Level 2 Delay Doppler Map (DDM) data onto a Level 3 grid.

Freshness

Daily production with 1 to 2 month latency.

Geography

Global ocean coverage determined by satellite specular points.