NSCAT: Daily Ocean Wind Vectors and Sigma-0 from Satellite Scatterometer

NASA's NSCAT satellite collected daily, high-resolution ocean wind vector and sigma-0 measurements in 25 km wind vector cells from ascending and descending passes. Wind vectors are accurate to within 2 m/s in speed and 20 degrees in direction, processed using the NSCAT-2 geophysical model function. This final calibrated and validated version was completed by the JPL NSCAT Project in November 1998.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean surface wind stress and energy transfer based on wind vector data.
• Studying sea ice extent and its interaction with ocean winds based on flagged land/ice regions.
• Analyzing daily wind patterns over global oceans based on ascending and descending satellite passes.
• Calibrating other satellite wind products based on the NSCAT-2 geophysical model function.

Strengths

• Wind vector accuracy is specified as within 2 m/s for speed and 20 degrees for direction.
• Data represents the final calibrated and validated version from a defined processing phase completed in November 1998.
• Measurements are provided at a high resolution of 25 km wind vector cells.

Limitations

• Wind vectors are not considered valid in rain-contaminated regions, and rain flags are not provided.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), JPL NSCAT Project

Collection Method

Satellite scatterometer measurements processed using the NSCAT-2 geophysical model function.

Time Range

Daily data from the NSCAT mission period, with final processing in November 1998.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:02:51.856296; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global ocean coverage from satellite swaths.