ISS-RapidScat: Ocean Surface Wind Vectors at 12.5km Resolution

ISS-RapidScat Version 1.2 provides science-quality ocean wind vectors from a Ku-band scatterometer mounted on the International Space Station. Unlike its predecessor QuikSCAT, this instrument flies at a lower altitude with a non-sun-synchronous orbit, restricting data coverage to latitudes between approximately 61°N and 61°S and providing no consistent local time of day retrieval. The dataset offers a calibrated continuation of wind data from 19 August 2015 onward, processed on a 12.5 km grid.

Use Cases

• Monitoring tropical cyclone development and intensity based on ocean surface wind vector data.
• Assimilating wind observations into numerical weather prediction models for improved forecast accuracy.
• Studying ocean-atmosphere interactions and wind-driven ocean currents in the tropics and mid-latitudes.
• Calibrating and validating other satellite wind products using the re-calibrated sigma-0 measurements.
• Analyzing wind climate variability within the instrument's latitudinal coverage zone.

Strengths

• Provides a calibrated continuation of a key ocean wind dataset from a specific date (19 August 2015).
• Data is binned on a specific, consistent spatial grid of 12.5 km Wind Vector Cells.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA and government data portals signals its importance and official status.

Limitations

• Spatial coverage is limited to between approximately 61 degrees North and South latitude, excluding polar regions.
• Metadata for row count, file size, and specific column names is unavailable across all sources.
• The 'wind_obj' variable is explicitly advised against for general use, indicating some internal data is for quality assurance only.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Collected by the ISS-RapidScat Ku-band dual beam circular rotating scatterometer mounted on the International Space Station.

Time Range

From 19 August 2015 onward.

Freshness

2026-04-09 22:57:19.395215

Geography

Global coverage between approximately 61 degrees North and 61 degrees South latitude.