Global Six-Hourly Ocean Wind Data from Multiple Satellite Sensors

MWOW 6-hourly global gridded data provides wind speed and direction at 0.125-degree horizontal resolution. The dataset harmonizes retrievals from seven satellite-based instruments, including five scatterometers, one radiometer, and one synthetic aperture radar. It is produced by the NASA-funded MWOW Project, with an initial bulk data ingest in January 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyzing wind speed and direction patterns over global oceans using the 0.125-degree gridded data.
• Comparing wind retrievals from specific instrument types, such as scatterometers versus synthetic aperture radar, across the 'time' dimension.
• Studying the spatial distribution and frequency of observations from individual platforms like the Hai Yang 2B and 2C satellites.
• Assimilating 6-hourly wind observations into numerical weather prediction or ocean circulation models.
• Investigating data gaps or sampling biases by examining separate observations along the time dimension for overlapping instrument coverage.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage at a high 0.125-degree horizontal resolution.
• Harmonized data from seven distinct satellite instrument types for cross-comparison.
• Six-hourly temporal resolution for analyzing diurnal and synoptic-scale wind variability.

Limitations

• Observations from different instruments are not composited per timestep, requiring user-side aggregation for unified maps.
• Version 0.1 is an initial assessment product with no user guide and potential changes in future versions.
• Spatially overlapping observations from the same instrument are reported separately, which may complicate analysis.

Provenance

Source

NASA's Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) via the MWOW Project.

Collection Method

Harmonized product combining retrievals from five scatterometers, one radiometer, and one synthetic aperture radar.

Time Range

Bulk ingest from January 2026 onward.

Freshness

Initial data ingest in January 2026, with forward streaming planned later in the year.

Geography

Global ocean coverage.