SMAP-SSS: Global Sea Surface Salinity Satellite Data

April 1, 2015 to present, this dataset provides global, gridded sea surface salinity measurements from NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite. The Level 3, 8-day running mean product includes both 40KM and 70KM resolution data, with the 70KM variable recommended for open ocean use due to lower noise. It incorporates enhancements like improved land correction, a revised sea-ice mask, and estimated salinity uncertainty.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global ocean salinity patterns based on the 8-day running mean gridded product.
• Analyzing long-term salinity trends for climate studies using data from April 2015 onward.
• Assessing surface roughness correction in salinity retrieval using collocated wind speed data.
• Comparing 40KM and 70KM resolution salinity data for different oceanographic applications.

Strengths

• Provides a long-term, ongoing time series starting on April 1, 2015.
• Includes two spatial resolutions (approximately 40KM and 70KM) within a single product.
• Features multiple data quality enhancements in its fourth release, such as an improved land correction table and estimated uncertainty.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are not provided by any source.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without further detail.
• A sensor malfunction on July 7, 2015, necessitated the use of external wind speed data (WindSat) for corrections.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration; data produced operationally by Remote Sensing Systems (RSS).

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the SMAP observatory's L-band radiometer (1.41GHz) and radar sensor (1.26GHz).

Time Range

April 1, 2015 to present

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04-09 according to datagov.

Geography

Global extent, gridded at 0.25 degree x 0.25 degree resolution.