NASA SEAWINDS Project: WindSat Ocean Surface Wind Vector Data

WindSat Polarimetric Radiometer data provides ocean surface wind vector measurements from space. The instrument was launched on January 6, 2003 aboard the Coriolis satellite and developed by the Naval Research Laboratory for the U.S. Navy and NPOESS. This Level 1C dataset contains Top of the Atmosphere brightness temperatures processed by RSS, resampled on a 0.125-degree Earth grid with calibration using the GMI sensor and other targets.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean-atmosphere interactions based on wind vector data.
• Calibrating other satellite sensors using the GMI-referenced brightness temperatures.
• Studying wind patterns and variability using the resampled 0.125-degree grid data.
• Analyzing sensor performance and corrections for factors like Faraday rotation mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Data is processed with corrections for multiple sensor anomalies, including hot/cold calibration and Faraday rotation.
• Brightness temperatures are calibrated using the GMI sensor as a reference for four frequency channels.
• Data is resampled onto a fixed regular 0.125-degree Earth grid using Backus-Gilbert Optimum Interpolation.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Remote Sensing Division and Naval Center for Space Technology.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the WindSat Polarimetric Radiometer aboard the Coriolis satellite.

Time Range

Data collection began after the January 6, 2003 launch; specific temporal coverage is not provided.

Freshness

Last updated date is unknown.

Geography

Global ocean coverage.