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Description

This dataset provides daily-averaged ocean and sea-ice surface stress on the native Lat-Lon-Cap 90 (LLC90) model grid from the ECCO Version 4 Release 4 (V4r4) ocean and sea-ice state estimate. Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) ocean and sea-ice state estimates are dynamically and kinematically-consistent reconstructions of the three-dimensional time-evolving ocean, sea-ice, and surface atmospheric states. ECCO V4r4 is a free-running solution of the 1-degree global configuration of the MIT general circulation model (MITgcm) that has been fit to observations in a least-squares sense. Observational data constraints used in V4r4 include sea surface height (SSH) from satellite altimeters [ERS-1/2, TOPEX/Poseidon, GFO, ENVISAT, Jason-1,2,3, CryoSat-2, and SARAL/AltiKa]; sea surface temperature (SST) from satellite radiometers [AVHRR], sea surface salinity (SSS) from the Aquarius satellite radiometer/scatterometer, ocean bottom pressure (OBP) from the GRACE satellite gravimeter; sea ice concentration from satellite radiometers [SSM/I and SSMIS], and in-situ ocean temperature and salinity measured with conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensors and expendable bathythermographs (XBTs) from several programs [e.g., WOCE, GO-SHIP, Argo, and others] and platforms [e.g., research vessels, gliders, moorings, ice-tethered profilers, and instrumented pinnipeds]. V4r4 covers the period 1992-01-01T12:00:00 to 2018-01-01T00:00:00.

Product Summary

Platforms
Models ,
MITgcm
Spatial Extent

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

Spatial Resolution
1 Decimal Degrees x 1 Decimal Degrees
Location
GLOBAL OCEAN
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
1992-01-01 to 2018-01-01
Data Partner
Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA (NASA/JPL/PODAAC)
Concept ID
C1991543704-POCLOUD
Data State
COMPLETE
Number of Files/Granules
9497
Processing Level
4
Published
Science Keywords
Wind Stress

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

Fenty, I., & Wang, O. (2020). ECCO Ocean and Sea-Ice Surface Stress - Daily Mean llc90 Grid (Version 4 release 4) [Data set]. NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/ECL5D-STR44 Date Accessed: 2026-02-15

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
EXFtaux Wind stress in the +x direction at the tracer cell on the native model grid. Note: EXFtaux is the stress applied to the ice-free ocean surface and sea-ice covered surface. When sea-ice is present, the total stress applied to the ocean surface in the +x direction is NOT EXFtaux, but a combination of EXFtaux wind stress in the open water fraction and a stress from sea-ice in the ice-covered fraction (see oceTAUX). EXFtaux is the sum of ERA-Interim stress and the control adjustment from ocean state estimation. N m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -74.743034 to 37.18409 1
EXFtauy Wind stress in the +y direction at the tracer cell on the native model grid. Note: EXFtauy is the stress applied to the ice-free ocean surface and sea-ice covered surface. When sea-ice is present, the total stress applied to the ocean surface in the +y direction is NOT EXFtauy, but a combination of EXFtauy wind stress in the open water fraction and a stress from sea-ice in the ice-covered fraction (see oceTAUY). EXFtaux is the sum of ERA-Interim stress and the control adjustment from ocean state estimation. N m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -37.197292 to 37.044838 1
i In the Arakawa C-grid system, tracer (e.g., THETA) and 'v' variables (e.g., VVEL) have the same x coordinate on the model grid. N/A int N/A N/A 1
i_g In the Arakawa C-grid system, 'u' (e.g., UVEL) and 'g' variables (e.g., XG) have the same x coordinate on the model grid. N/A int N/A N/A 1
j In the Arakawa C-grid system, tracer (e.g., THETA) and 'u' variables (e.g., UVEL) have the same y coordinate on the model grid. N/A int N/A N/A 1
j_g In the Arakawa C-grid system, 'v' (e.g., VVEL) and 'g' variables (e.g., XG) have the same y coordinate. N/A int N/A N/A 1
oceTAUX Ocean surface stress due to wind and sea-ice in the +x direction centered over the 'u' side of the the native model grid. Note: in the Arakawa-C grid, wind stress acts on horizontal velocities which are staggered relative to the tracer cells with indexing such that +oceTAUX(i_g,j) corresponds to +x momentum fluxes at 'u' edge of the tracer cell at (i,j,k=0). Also, the model +x direction does not necessarily correspond to the geographical east-west direction because the x and y axes of the model's curvilinear lat-lon-cap (llc) grid have arbitrary orientations which vary within and across tiles. N m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -22.317698 to 19.993582 1
oceTAUY Ocean surface stress due to wind and sea-ice in the +y direction centered over the 'v' side of the the native model grid. Note: in the Arakawa-C grid, wind stress acts on horizontal velocities which are staggered relative to the tracer cells with indexing such that +oceTAUY(i_g,j) corresponds to +y momentum fluxes at 'v' edge of the tracer cell at (i,j,k=0). Also, the model +y direction does not necessarily correspond to the geographical north-south direction because the x and y axes of the model's curvilinear lat-lon-cap (llc) grid have arbitrary orientations which vary within and across tiles. N m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -20.606133 to 19.999693 1
tile The ECCO V4 horizontal model grid is divided into 13 tiles of 90x90 cells for convenience. N/A int N/A N/A 1
time center time of averaging period hours since 1992-01-01T12:00:00 int N/A N/A 1
time_bnds Start and end times of averaging period. N/A int N/A N/A 1
XC nonuniform grid spacing degrees_east float N/A N/A 1
XC_bnds Bounds array follows CF conventions. XC_bnds[i,j,0] = 'southwest' corner (j-1, i-1), XC_bnds[i,j,1] = 'southeast' corner (j-1, i+1), XC_bnds[i,j,2] = 'northeast' corner (j+1, i+1), XC_bnds[i,j,3] = 'northwest' corner (j+1, i-1). Note: 'southwest', 'southeast', northwest', and 'northeast' do not correspond to geographic orientation but are used for convenience to describe the computational grid. See MITgcm dcoumentation for details. N/A float N/A N/A 1
XG Nonuniform grid spacing. Note: 'southwest' does not correspond to geographic orientation but is used for convenience to describe the computational grid. See MITgcm dcoumentation for details. degrees_east float N/A N/A 1
YC nonuniform grid spacing degrees_north float N/A N/A 1
YC_bnds Bounds array follows CF conventions. YC_bnds[i,j,0] = 'southwest' corner (j-1, i-1), YC_bnds[i,j,1] = 'southeast' corner (j-1, i+1), YC_bnds[i,j,2] = 'northeast' corner (j+1, i+1), YC_bnds[i,j,3] = 'northwest' corner (j+1, i-1). Note: 'southwest', 'southeast', northwest', and 'northeast' do not correspond to geographic orientation but are used for convenience to describe the computational grid. See MITgcm dcoumentation for details. N/A float N/A N/A 1
YG Nonuniform grid spacing. Note: 'southwest' does not correspond to geographic orientation but is used for convenience to describe the computational grid. See MITgcm dcoumentation for details. degrees_north float N/A N/A 1
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