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Description

The 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.

Product Summary

Platforms
Aquarius_SAC-D
Instruments
AQUARIUS_RADIOMETER ,
AQUARIUS_SCATTEROMETER
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2011-08-25 to 2015-06-07
Data Partner
Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) ,
Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA (NASA/JPL/PODAAC)
Concept ID
C2036882456-POCLOUD
Data State
COMPLETE
Number of Files/Granules
20343
Processing Level
2
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Surface Winds ,
Salinity

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

NASA/GSFC/OBPG. (2017). Aquarius Official Release Level 2 Sea Surface Salinity & Wind Speed Data V5.0 [Data set]. NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/AQR50-2SOCS Date Accessed: 2025-12-14

Documents

USER'S GUIDE

ANOMALIES

DATA CITATION GUIDELINES

GENERAL DOCUMENTATION

Variables

Variables are a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. For example, temperature and pressure are variables of the atmosphere. Parameters and variables can be used interchangeably. Variable level attributes provide individual information for each variable.

The Name in this table is the variable name. Fill value indicates missing or undefined data points in a variable. Valid range is the range of values the variable can store. Scale factor is used to increase or decrease the size of an object and can be used to correct for distortion. For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
/Aquarius_Data/anc_cwat Cloud Water kg m-2 float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_sm Soil Moisture fraction float -999 0 to 1 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_SSS_argo Sea surface salinity (ARGO) PSU float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_SSS_hycom Sea surface salinity (HYCOM) PSU float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_subsurf_temp Sub-Surface Temperature Kelvin float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_surface_pressure Surface Pressure Pascals float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_surface_temp Surface Temperature Kelvin float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_surface_temp_err Estimated systematic error in ancillary sea surface temperature input Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_surface_temp_SSS_sens Estimated SSS retrieval sensitivity to ancillary sea surface temperature input PSU float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_swe Snow Water Equivalent kg/m^2 float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_swh Significant wave height meters float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_Tb_dw Downwelling atmospheric brightness temperature Kelvin float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_Tb_up Upwelling atmospheric brightness temperature Kelvin float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_trans Atmospheric Transmittance N/A float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_wind_dir Ancillary Wind Direction 10m above surface degrees float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/anc_wind_speed Ancillary Wind Speed 10m above surface meters/sec float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/density Derived Surface Density based on TEOS-10 kg/m^3 float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/EIA_err Estimated random error in boresight Earth Incidence Angle Degress float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/EIA_SSS_sens Estimated SSS retrieval sensitivity to boresight Earth Incidence Angle random error PSU float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/IU_coupling_err Estimated systematic error in computing first (I) and third (U) stokes coupling Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/IU_coupling_SSS_sens Estimated SSS retrieval sensitivity to IU coupling correction PSU float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/Kpc_HH_ant Kpc statistical uncertainty for ANT HH NRCS N/A float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/Kpc_HH_toa Kpc statistical uncertainty for TOA HH NRCS N/A float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/Kpc_HV_ant Kpc statistical uncertainty for ANT HV NRCS N/A float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/Kpc_HV_toa Kpc statistical uncertainty for TOA HV NRCS N/A float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/Kpc_total Statistical uncertainty for total power NRCS N/A float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/Kpc_VH_ant Kpc statistical uncertainty for ANT VH NRCS N/A float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/Kpc_VH_toa Kpc statistical uncertainty for TOA VH NRCS N/A float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/Kpc_VV_ant Kpc statistical uncertainty for ANT VV NRCS N/A float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/Kpc_VV_toa Kpc statistical uncertainty for TOA VV NRCS N/A float -999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/NEDT_3_err Estimated radiometer NEDT random error (3rd Stokes) Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/NEDT_3_SSS_sens Estimated SSS retrieval sensitivity to radiometer NEDT input (3rd Stokes) PSU float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/NEDT_H_err Estimated radiometer NEDT random error (H pol) Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/NEDT_H_SSS_sens Estimated SSS retrieval sensitivity to radiometer NEDT input (H pol) PSU float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/NEDT_V_err Estimated radiometer NEDT random error (V pol) Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/NEDT_V_SSS_sens Estimated SSS retrieval sensitivity to radiometer NEDT input (V pol) PSU float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/rad_dtb_sst_wspd_H Radiometer SST bias emissivity correction H Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/rad_dtb_sst_wspd_V Radiometer SST bias emissivity correction V Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/rad_exp_Ta3 Radiometer Ta 3rd Stokes (expected) Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/rad_exp_Ta3_hhh Radiometer Ta 3rd Stokes (expected/HHH winds) Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/rad_exp_TaH Radiometer Ta H (expected) Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/rad_exp_TaH_hhh Radiometer Ta H (expected/HHH winds) Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/rad_exp_TaV Radiometer Ta V (expected) Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/rad_exp_TaV_hhh Radiometer Ta V (expected/HHH winds) Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/rad_exp_TbH Radiometer Tb H (expected) Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/rad_exp_TbH0 Radiometer Tb H (expected smooth) Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/rad_exp_TbV Radiometer Tb V (expected) Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/rad_exp_TbV0 Radiometer Tb V (expected smooth) Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/rad_far_rot_ang Radiometer Faraday Rotation Angle Degrees float -9999 0 0 1
/Aquarius_Data/rad_galact_dTa_H Empirical Gal Reflect Adj H polar Kelvin float -9999 0 0 1
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