Satellite Ocean Data: Weekly Averages of Wind, Vapor, Cloud, and Rain

NASA's MEaSUREs Program provides weekly averaged satellite data for ocean wind speed, water vapor, cloud water, and rain rate. Remote Sensing Systems produced this dataset using a unified algorithm refined over 20 years, with SSMIS data intercalibrated to extend the SSM/I time series. The Global Hydrology Resource Center reformatted the original binary data into netCDF files for the DMSP F11 satellite.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term trends in ocean surface wind speeds for climate modeling.
• Correlating atmospheric water vapor and cloud liquid water concentrations over oceans.
• Studying the distribution and intensity of oceanic rainfall events.
• Validating and improving physical retrieval algorithms for satellite microwave data.

Strengths

• Data is derived from a unified physical algorithm refined and verified over a 20-year period.
• SSMIS data is intercalibrated with previous SSM/I sensors to ensure consistency in the long-term 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, reporting either 2000-05-20 or a future date of 2026-03-12.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite microwave radiometer measurements from the DMSP F11 satellite, processed using a unified retrieval algorithm and reformatted to netCDF.

Time Range

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Freshness

2026-03 12 22:21:11.705078

Geography

Global ocean coverage.