SPURS-2: X-band Marine Radar Rain Echo Images

SPURS-2 shipboard X-band radar backscatter images for the 2016 E. Tropical Pacific field campaign consist of qualitative screenshots of rain echoes. The dataset was collected during NASA-funded SPURS-2 oceanographic cruises in 2016 and 2017 to study near-surface salinity variations. These uncalibrated radar images provide visual data on rainfall backscatter for analyzing ocean freshening.

Use Cases

• Analyzing spatial patterns of rainfall over the ocean based on qualitative radar backscatter echoes.
• Supporting studies on ocean freshening and near-surface salinity variations as part of the SPURS project.
• Methodological validation of high-resolution rain map generation from X-band marine navigation radar.
• Visualizing rain echo data where raw radar signal data could not be saved.

Strengths

• Data is associated with a peer-reviewed publication in Oceanography (Thompson et al., 2019), providing methodological context.
• Collected during two dedicated field campaigns (2016 and 2017 cruises), offering temporal coverage.
• Dataset is hosted by NASA, indicating institutional provenance and relevance to a major oceanographic process study.

Limitations

• Data consists of uncalibrated qualitative screenshots, as raw radar data could not be saved, limiting quantitative analysis.
• Key metadata (row count, file size, specific columns) is unavailable across all platform listings.
• Platforms show conflicting 'last updated' dates (2016 vs. 2026), raising questions about metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) SPURS-2 project.

Collection Method

Screenshots captured directly from a science-use X-band marine navigation radar aboard ship.

Time Range

2016 to 2017 (from field campaigns).

Freshness

Last updated metadata ranges from 2016-09-22 to 2026-04-09 across platforms.

Geography

Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean (from campaign description).