Satellite Ocean Product Grids: Monthly Averages for Wind and Vapor

Remote Sensing Systems provides monthly average ocean product grids from the DMSP F14 satellite's SSM/I sensor. The dataset contains retrievals for ocean wind speed, atmospheric water vapor, cloud liquid water, and rain rate using a unified algorithm refined over 20 years. Data is produced under NASA's MEaSUREs Program and reformatted into netCDF by the Global Hydrology Resource Center.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term trends in ocean surface wind speeds for climate studies.
• Validating atmospheric reanalysis models with satellite-retrieved water vapor and cloud water data.
• Studying the relationship between precipitation rates and oceanic conditions over time.
• Investigating spatial patterns of geophysical variables like wind, vapor, and rain over global oceans.

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, ensuring continuity of the time series.

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 platform lists 2008-08-31, while another lists a future date of 2026-03-12.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Data generated using a unified, physically based algorithm on SSM/I sensor readings from the DMSP F14 satellite, reformatted into netCDF by the Global Hydrology Resource Center.

Time Range

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Freshness

2008-08-31 23:59:59

Geography

Global ocean coverage.