Weekly Satellite Grids of Ocean Wind Speed and Atmospheric Variables

Global satellite data provides weekly averaged ocean surface wind speed, atmospheric water vapor, cloud liquid water, and rain rate. Remote Sensing Systems produced this dataset using a unified algorithm refined over 20 years, as part of NASA's MEaSUREs Program. The data is derived from the DMSP F16 satellite's SSMIS sensor and reformatted into netCDF files by the Global Hydrology Resource Center.

Use Cases

• Analyzing weekly ocean surface wind speed patterns for climate studies.
• Tracking global atmospheric water vapor distribution and transport.
• Investigating relationships between cloud liquid water and precipitation rates over oceans.
• Validating and calibrating numerical weather prediction and climate models for oceanic regions.

Strengths

• Data is intercalibrated to extend a consistent time series from previous SSM/I sensors.
• Retrieval algorithm is the product of 20 years of refinements and verifications.
• Dataset is part of NASA's MEaSUREs Program, indicating a standardized production process.

Limitations

• Specific row count, file size, and temporal coverage are not provided by any source.
• License is inconsistently reported as 'other-license-specified' on datagov and null on NASA Earthdata.
• Column names and precise data structure within the netCDF files are unknown.

Provenance

Source

Remote Sensing Systems (RSS), processed by NASA's Global Hydrology Resource Center.

Collection Method

Data retrieved from the DMSP F16 satellite's Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS) using a unified physical algorithm, then reformatted into netCDF.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-03-12 22:20:41.512540

Geography

Global ocean coverage.