NSCAT: Daily Gridded Ocean Surface Wind Vectors at 0.5° Resolution

NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) Level 3 daily gridded ocean wind vectors are provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The data has a 0.5-degree spatial resolution, with vectors averaged from ascending and descending satellite passes and invalidated in rain-contaminated or flagged regions. This final processed version uses the NSCAT-2 geophysical model function, with calibration and validation completed in November 1998.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean-atmosphere interactions based on daily gridded surface wind vectors.
• Validating other wind retrieval algorithms using the NSCAT-2 geophysical model function outputs.
• Studying wind patterns over open oceans using 0.5-degree resolution data from ascending and descending passes.
• Identifying regions of unreliable wind data based on flags for rain, land, sea-ice, or missing measurements.

Strengths

• Data is provided at a 0.5-degree spatial resolution, offering a specific level of detail.
• Represents the final, calibrated version processed using the NSCAT-2 geophysical model function.
• Wind vectors are averaged at points where adjacent satellite passes overlap.

Limitations

• Wind vectors are not considered valid in rain-contaminated regions, but rain flags are not provided.
• Data processing was finalized in 1998, which may limit temporal relevance for contemporary studies.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) NSCAT Project.

Collection Method

Processed from NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) satellite measurements using the NSCAT-2 geophysical model function.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:03:26.996077; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global ocean coverage.