DMSP F13 Satellite Ocean Grids for Wind, Vapor, and Rain

NASA's RSS SSM/I Ocean Product Grids provide 3-day average geophysical retrievals from the DMSP F13 satellite. Remote Sensing Systems produced this data using a unified algorithm refined over 20 years to simultaneously measure ocean wind speed, atmospheric water vapor, cloud liquid water, and rain rate. The Global Hydrology Resource Center reformatted the original binary data into netCDF files.

Use Cases

• Analyzing spatial patterns of ocean surface wind speed for marine navigation or storm research.
• Tracking atmospheric water vapor content to study hydrological cycles and moisture transport.
• Investigating the relationship between cloud liquid water and precipitation rates over oceanic regions.
• Validating and calibrating climate model outputs for parameters like rain rate and wind speed.
• Extending a consistent multi-sensor time series for climate trend analysis using intercalibrated SSM/I and SSMIS data.

Strengths

• Algorithm is the product of 20 years of refinements, improvements, and verifications.
• SSMIS data are intercalibrated to the brightness temperature level of previous SSM/I sensors, ensuring consistency for time-series analysis.
• Data provides simultaneous retrieval of four key ocean-atmosphere variables: wind speed, water vapor, cloud water, and rain rate.

Limitations

• Sources conflict on the last updated date: Data.gov lists 2026-03-12, while NASA Earthdata lists 2009-11-04.
• Specific row counts, file sizes, and detailed column names are not provided by any platform.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' on Data.gov, with no details provided on NASA Earthdata.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) MEaSUREs Program, generated by Remote Sensing Systems (RSS).

Collection Method

Remote sensing via the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) on the DMSP F13 satellite, with data processed using a unified physical retrieval algorithm and reformatted to netCDF by the Global Hydrology Resource Center.

Time Range

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Freshness

2026-03-12

Geography

Global ocean coverage.