Aquarius Official Release Level 2 Sea Surface Salinity & Wind Speed Data V5.0

(AQUARIUS_L2_SSS_V5)
4 Publications Cited this Dataset
Citation metrics available for years (2014-2021)
Version5.0
Processing Level2
Start/Stop Date2011-Aug-25 to 2015-Jun-07
Short NameAQUARIUS_L2_SSS_V5
DescriptionThe version 5.0 Aquarius Level 2 product is the official third release of the orbital/swath data from AQUARIUS/SAC-D mission. The Aquarius Level 2 data set contains sea surface salinity (SSS) and wind speed data derived from 3 different radiometers and the onboard scatterometer. Included also in the Level 2 data are the horizontal and vertical brightness temperatures (TH and TV) for each radiometer, ancillary data, flags, converted telemetry and navigation data. Each data file covers one 98 minute orbit. The Aquarius instrument is onboard the AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite, a collaborative effort between NASA and the Argentinian Space Agency Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE). The instrument consists of three radiometers in push broom alignment at incidence angles of 29, 38, and 46 degrees incidence angles relative to the shadow side of the orbit. Footprints for the beams are: 76 km (along-track) x 94 km (cross-track), 84 km x 120 km and 96km x 156 km, yielding a total cross-track swath of 370 km. The radiometers measure brightness temperature at 1.413 GHz in their respective horizontal and vertical polarizations (TH and TV). A scatterometer operating at 1.26 GHz measures ocean backscatter in each footprint that is used for surface roughness corrections in the estimation of salinity. The scatterometer has an approximate 390km swath. Enhancements to the version 5.0 Level 2 data relative to v4.0 include: improvement of the salinity retrieval geophysical model for SST bias, estimates of SSS uncertainties (systematic and random components), and inclusion of a new spiciness variable.
DOI10.5067/AQR50-2SOCS
MeasurementOCEANS > OCEAN WINDS > SURFACE WINDS
OCEANS > SALINITY/DENSITY > SALINITY
Swath Width390 km
Platform/Sensor
Aquarius_SAC-D
Platform
Name: Aquarius SAC-D (Aquarius_SAC-D)
Orbit Period: 98.0 minutes
Inclination Angle: 98.0 degrees
/
AQUARIUS_RADIOMETER
SENSOR
Name: Aquarius Radiometer (AQUARIUS_RADIOMETER)
Swath Width: 390.0 kilometers
Description: Spacecraft angular distance from orbital plane relative to the Equator.

Aquarius_SAC-D
Platform
Name: Aquarius SAC-D (Aquarius_SAC-D)
Orbit Period: 98.0 minutes
Inclination Angle: 98.0 degrees
/
AQUARIUS_SCATTEROMETER
SENSOR
Name: Aquarius Scatterometer (AQUARIUS_SCATTEROMETER)
Swath Width: 390.0 kilometers
Description: Spacecraft angular distance from orbital plane relative to the Equator.

ProjectAQUARIUS SAC-D (AQUARIUS SAC-D)
Data ProviderPublisher: NASA/GSFC OBPG
Creator: NASA Aquarius project
Release Place: Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Rd.; Greeenbelt, MD., 20771, USA
Release Date: 2017-Dec-07
Resource: http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/SeaSurfaceSalinity/Aquarius

FormatHDF5
Keyword(s)Aquarius, salinity, wind speed, polar, sun-synchronous, sss, psu, CONAE, argentina, project, mission, OBPG
Questions related to this dataset? Contact podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov
Resolution
Temporal Resolution: Hourly - < Daily
 
Coverage
Region: GLOBAL
North Bounding Coordinate: 90 degrees
South Bounding Coordinate: -90 degrees
West Bounding Coordinate: -180 degrees
East Bounding Coordinate: 180 degrees
Time Span: 2011-Aug-25 to 2015-Jun-07
Granule Time Span: 2011-Aug-25 to 2015-Jun-07
Swath Width: 390 km
 
GENERAL DOCUMENTATION
ANOMALIES
USER'S GUIDE
DATA CITATION POLICY
Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. Please cite the data as follows, and cite the reference papers when it is appropriate.
Citation NASA Aquarius project. 2017. Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity Products. Ver. 5.0. PO.DAAC, CA, USA. Dataset accessed [YYYY-MM-DD] at https://doi.org/10.5067/AQR50-2SOCS

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For more information see Data Citations and Acknowledgments.
Journal Reference Aquarius User's Guide (see http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/SeaSurfaceSalinity/Aquarius)

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