S-MODE MASS: Airborne LiDAR Point Cloud for Ocean Surface Topography

Approximately 300 km offshore of San Francisco, this dataset provides high-resolution airborne LiDAR point clouds from the Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment (S-MODE). It captures ocean surface topography during a pilot campaign in October 2021 and two intensive operating periods in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. The data aims to understand how short-scale ocean dynamics influence vertical exchanges of physical and biological variables.

Use Cases

• Analyzing ocean surface wave spectra and roughness based on high-resolution LiDAR point clouds.
• Studying sub-mesoscale ocean front dynamics and their vertical transport based on surface topography measurements.
• Validating satellite-derived sea surface height and roughness estimates based on airborne LiDAR observations.
• Characterizing air-sea interaction processes during specific intensive operating periods based on time-series point cloud data.

Strengths

• Data collected during three distinct field campaigns over multiple years, providing temporal context.
• High-resolution LiDAR with a maximum pulse repetition rate of 400 kHz and a +/- 30° cross-heading raster scan.
• Available on multiple authoritative platforms (NASA Earthdata and Data.gov), indicating curation and importance.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing or conflicting: row count, file size, and author are unknown; last update dates conflict between 2023 and 2026.
• Column names and a detailed data dictionary are not provided, limiting immediate analytical use.
• The license is listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms, requiring further investigation for reuse.

Provenance

Source

POCLOUD (as listed on one platform), collected via the Modular Aerial Sensing System (MASS) mounted on a DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft.

Collection Method

Airborne LiDAR surveys conducted as part of the Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment (S-MODE).

Time Range

October 2021 (pilot), Fall 2022, and Spring 2023.

Freshness

Last updated dates conflict: one source states 2026-04-09, another states 2023-04-28.

Geography

Approximately 300 km offshore of San Francisco, California, USA.