DMSP F10 Satellite Ocean Wind, Vapor, Cloud, and Rain Grids

Ocean wind speed, water vapor, cloud water, and rain rate data retrieved from the DMSP F10 satellite's Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I). The dataset is produced by Remote Sensing Systems for NASA's MEaSUREs Program using a unified algorithm refined over 20 years. Data is provided in daily netCDF grids, extending a long-term time series of oceanographic and atmospheric variables.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term trends in ocean surface wind speeds for climate studies.
• Modeling atmospheric water vapor content and its role in weather systems.
• Investigating the distribution of cloud liquid water and its impact on radiation budgets.
• Estimating precipitation rates and rain patterns over global oceans.
• Calibrating and validating other satellite-derived oceanographic datasets.

Strengths

• Data is intercalibrated to extend a consistent time series from SSM/I to SSMIS sensors.
• Retrieval algorithm is the product of 20 years of refinements and verifications.
• Provides four key ocean-atmosphere variables (wind, vapor, cloud, rain) simultaneously from a unified physical algorithm.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date: one lists 2026-03-12, another lists 1997-11 14.

Provenance

Source

Remote Sensing Systems, produced for NASA's MEaSUREs Program.

Collection Method

Microwave brightness temperatures from the DMSP F10 SSM/I sensor processed with a unified retrieval algorithm.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-03-12 22:22:20.532657

Geography

Global ocean coverage.