OW NASA Aquarius: Global Sea Surface Salinity from Satellite, 2011-2015

OW NASA Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity contains satellite-derived salinity measurements from the Aquarius sensor onboard the NASA/CONAE SAC-D satellite. The dataset offers weekly and monthly intervals at a 1-degree spatial resolution. Its geographic coverage is global, and the temporal coverage ranges from 2011 to 2015.

Use Cases

• Modeling global ocean circulation patterns based on sea surface salinity data.
• Analyzing seasonal and interannual salinity variability based on weekly and monthly time series.
• Studying the freshwater cycle and its interaction with climate based on global spatial coverage.
• Validating and calibrating other ocean salinity models or in-situ measurements based on satellite-derived data.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage provides a complete view of ocean surface salinity.
• Data is available at two temporal resolutions: weekly and monthly intervals.
• Measurements span a defined 5-year period from 2011 to 2015.
• Data originates from a specific, named satellite sensor (Aquarius on NASA/CONAE SAC-D).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset's temporal coverage ended in 2015, which may limit analysis of recent trends.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Satellite-derived measurements collected by the Aquarius sensor.

Time Range

2011-2015

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-14 23:00:29.509885; freshness should be verified

Geography

Global