Sentinel-1 SAR-Derived Ocean Wind Speeds for Australian Coastal Regions

Australian coastal regions are covered by 10m neutral stability wind speed and direction data derived from Sentinel-1 A, B, and C Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites. The dataset uses a consistent CMOD5N geophysical model function and variational Bayesian inversion, with wind speeds calibrated against a Metop scatterometer database. Data is presented in delayed mode and derived from the Sentinel-1 Ocean wind level-2 product.

Use Cases

• Modeling coastal wind energy potential based on 10m wind speed data.
• Analyzing marine weather patterns using SAR-derived wind direction.
• Calibrating atmospheric models with wind data calibrated against Metop scatterometers.
• Studying ocean surface processes using 1km resolution wind fields.

Strengths

• Wind speeds are calibrated against the Metop-A and B scatterometer wind database of Ribal and Young, 2020.
• Data is derived using a consistent geophysical model function (CMOD5N) over time, unlike the source product.
• Covers the wider Australian coastal regions where Sentinel-1 satellites normally operate in interferometric wide swath mode.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au, focusing on Australian coastal areas.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, via data_gov_au.

Collection Method

Wind data derived from Sentinel-1 SAR instruments using the CMOD5N geophysical model function and a variational Bayesian inversion approach.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 02:33:38.080774; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Wider Australian coastal regions.