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Description

The Salinity and Stratification at the Sea Ice Edge (SASSIE) project is a NASA experiment that aims to understand how salinity anomalies in the upper ocean generated by melting sea ice affect sea surface temperature (SST), stratification, and subsequent sea-ice growth. SASSIE involved a field campaign that sampled the transition from summer melt to autumn ice advance in the Beaufort Sea during August-October 2022, making intensive in situ and remote sensing observations within ~200 km of the sea ice edge. The Surface Wave Instrument Float with Tracking (SWIFT) drifter is a passive Lagrangian wave-following sensor platform. During the SASSIE deployment, five SWIFT drifters were deployed in September 2022, collecting measurements of salinity, sea surface temperature, waves, and meteorological data. SWIFT drifter buoys contain GPS, a pulse-coherent Doppler velocity profiler, an autonomous meteorological station, and a digital video recorder. Data are available in netCDF format.

Product Summary

Platforms
BUOYS
Instruments
CTD ,
ADCP ,
WAVE HEIGHT GAUGES ,
ANEMOMETERS ,
BAROMETERS ,
THERMOMETERS
Spatial Extent

N: 73.5 S: 72 E: -145.5 W: -153.6

Location
BEAUFORT SEA
Coordinate System
GEODETIC
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2022-09-09 to 2022-09-30
Data Partner
Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA (NASA/JPL/PODAAC)
Concept ID
C2637402374-POCLOUD
Data State
COMPLETE
Number of Files/Granules
17
Processing Level
2
Science Keywords
OCEAN TEMPERATURE PROFILES ,
CONDUCTIVITY PROFILES ,
OCEAN SALINITY PROFILES ,
Salinity ,
Conductivity ,
Ocean Currents ,
CURRENT PROFILES ,
Surface Winds ,
Air Temperature ,
Atmospheric Pressure Measurements

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

Thomson, J. (2022). SASSIE Arctic Field Campaign SWIFT Data Fall 2022 Version 1 [Data set]. NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/SASSIE-SWIFT2 Date Accessed: 2026-03-15

Documents

Variables

The table below lists the variables contained within a single granule for this dataset. Variables often contain observed or derived geophysical measurements collected from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and model outputs. The terms variable, parameter, scientific data set, layer, and band have been used across NASA’s Earth science disciplines; however, variable is the designated nomenclature in NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR). Variable metadata attributes such as Name, Description, Units, Data Type, Fill Value, Valid Range, and Scale Factor allow users to efficiently process and analyze the data. The full range of attributes may not be applicable to all variables. Additional information on variable attributes is typically available in the data, user guide, and/or other product documentation.

For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor Offset
air_pressure air pressure at 0.8 m height above the wave-following surface hPa double -999 950 to 1050 1 N/A
air_pressure_stddev standard deviation of air pressure at 0.8 m height above the wave-following surface hPa double -999 0 to 200 1 N/A
air_temperature air temperature at 0.8 m height above the wave-following surface degree_C double -999 -40 to 40 1 N/A
air_temperature_stdev standard deviation of air temperature at 0.8 m height above the wave-following surface degree_C double -999 0 to 10 1 N/A
depth depth bins for the tke dissipation rate profiles m double N/A N/A 1 N/A
drift_direction platform drift direction toward, in degrees to (equivalent to course over ground) degree double -999 0 to 360 1 N/A
drift_direction_stdev standard deviation of platform drift direction toward, in degrees to (equivalent to course over ground) degree double -999 0 to 360 1 N/A
drift_speed platform drift speed (equivalent to speed over ground) m s-1 double -999 0 to 10 1 N/A
drift_speed_stdev standard deviation of platform drift speed(equivalent to speed over ground) m s-1 double -999 0 to 10 1 N/A
frequency Wave spectral processing as shown in Thomson et al., JTech, 2018. Hz double N/A N/A 1 N/A
latitude Latitude of Measurement degrees_north double N/A N/A 1 N/A
longitude Longitude of Measurement degrees_east double N/A N/A 1 N/A
salinity sea water salinity at 0.5 m depth 1 double -999 0 to 42 1 N/A
spectral_directional_moment_east normalized spectral directional moment (positive east) m^2 s double -999 -1 to 1 1 N/A
spectral_directional_moment_east_west normalized spectral directional moment (east-west) m^2 s double -999 -1 to 1 1 N/A
spectral_directional_moment_north normalized spectral directional moment (positive north) m^2 s double -999 -1 to 1 1 N/A
spectral_directional_moment_north_south normalized spectral directional moment (north-south) m^2 s double -999 -1 to 1 1 N/A
surface_wave_direction wave direction at spectral peak, direction from north degree double -999 0 to 360 1 N/A
surface_wave_height significant wave height m double -999 0 to 20 1 N/A
surface_wave_period peak of period orbital velocity spectra s double -999 0 to 20 1 N/A
time Time of Measurement days since 1950-01-01 double N/A N/A 1 N/A
turbulent_dissipation_rate vertical profiles of turbulent dissipation rate beneath the wave-following free surface W kg-1 double -999 0 to 1 1 N/A
water_temperature sea water temperature at 0.5 m depth degree_C double -999 -2 to 30 1 N/A
wave_energy wave energy spectral density as a function of frequency m^2 s double -999 0 to 1 1 N/A
wind_direction 0° from the north, 90° from the east, etc. degree double -999 0 to 360 1 N/A
wind_direction_stdev standard deviation of true wind direction at 0.8 m height above the wave-following surface degree double -999 0 to 360 1 N/A
wind_speed true wind speed at 0.8 m height above the wave-following surface m s-1 double -999 0 to 100 1 N/A
wind_speed_stdev standard deviation of true wind speed at 0.8 m height above the wave-following surface m s-1 double -999 0 to 100 1 N/A
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