NASA MISST Project: Saildrone Arctic 2021 Ocean and Atmospheric Observations

Two Saildrone uncrewed surface vehicles collected high-resolution ocean and atmospheric data during a 76-day mission in the Bering and Chukchi Seas from July 6 to September 20, 2021. The dataset, part of NASA's Multi-sensor Improved Sea-Surface Temperature (MISST) project, includes 1-minute surface observations and 5-minute depth-resolved current profiles. It was funded by NASA through the National Ocean Partnership Program.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite sea-surface temperature measurements in the Arctic based on in-situ skin and bulk temperature data.
• Analyzing air-sea heat and momentum fluxes near the sea ice edge based on wind, temperature, and pressure observations.
• Studying spatial and temporal scales of air-sea covariance in the Chukchi Sea based on parallel transect data from two vehicles.
• Profiling near-surface ocean currents to 100m depth based on 300 kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) data.

Strengths

• High temporal resolution with 1-minute surface data and 5-minute binned current profiles.
• Multivariate measurements include air temperature, salinity, chlorophyll fluorescence, dissolved oxygen, wind, and waves.
• Data collected during a focused 76-day campaign with two vehicles running coordinated parallel tracks.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download from netCDF files.

Provenance

Source

NASA Multi-sensor Improved Sea-Surface Temperature (MISST) project, likely via PODAAC.

Collection Method

Deployment of two wind and solar-powered Saildrone uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) equipped with instrument suites.

Time Range

July 6, 2021 to September 20, 2021.

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Bering and Chukchi Seas, Alaskan Arctic waters, approaching the sea ice edge.