S-MODE DopplerScatt: Airborne Ocean Winds and Currents

S-MODE DopplerScatt Level 2 Ocean Winds and Currents Version 2 provides concurrent airborne radar retrievals of surface vector winds and ocean currents. Data were collected approximately 300 km offshore of San Francisco during a pilot campaign in October 2021 and two intensive operating periods in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. The Level 2 data includes estimates derived from Ka-band DopplerScatt measurements and has been cross-calibrated against in-situ instruments.

Use Cases

• Analyzing sub-mesoscale ocean dynamics based on concurrent surface wind and current vector fields.
• Comparing airborne remote sensing data with in-situ measurements of velocities and divergence.
• Providing larger-scale context for field campaigns based on daily aircraft surveys.
• Studying the influence of short spatial scale dynamics on vertical exchange of physical and biological variables.

Strengths

• Data is cross-calibrated against ADCPs, surface drifters, and the SIO-DopVis instrument.
• Provides concurrent retrievals of both surface winds and ocean currents from a single instrument.
• Coverage includes multiple campaigns over a defined study area offshore San Francisco.

Limitations

• The dataset is described as provisional, pending reprocessing with additional data from IOP1 and IOP2.
• Column names and precise row counts are not provided in the available metadata.
• Platforms list conflicting last updated dates (2026-04-09 and 2023-04-30).

Provenance

Source

Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment (S-MODE)

Collection Method

Airborne remote sensing using a Ka-band (35.75 GHz) DopplerScatt scatterometer mounted on a B200 aircraft.

Time Range

October 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2023

Freshness

2026-04-09 22:52:36.233022

Geography

Approximately 300 km offshore of San Francisco, California, USA