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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

Location
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: 2026-05-30

Documents

USER'S GUIDE

ANOMALIES

GENERAL DOCUMENTATION

DATA CITATION GUIDELINES

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
/Aquarius_Data/spiciness Derived Surface Spiciness based on TEOS-10 kg/m^3 float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS Sea Surface Salinity PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_matchup Sea Surface Salinity matchup value PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_nolc Sea Surface Salinity (nolc) PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc Estimated total uncertainty in SSS including random and systematic components PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_EIA Estimated SSS retrieval uncertainty due to boresight Earth Incidence Angle random error PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_galact_Ta Estimated SSS retrieval uncertainty due to galactic effect systematic error PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_IU_coupling Estimated SSS retrieval uncertainty due to IU coupling systematic error PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_moon_Ta Estimated SSS retrieval uncertainty due to lunar effect systematic error PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_NEDT_3 Estimated SSS retrieval sensitivity to radiometer NEDT random error (3rd Stokes) PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_NEDT_H Estimated SSS retrieval sensitivity to radiometer NEDT random error (H pol) PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_NEDT_V Estimated SSS retrieval sensitivity to radiometer NEDT random error (V pol) PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_ran Estimated random component of uncertainty in SSS PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_RFI_level Estimated SSS retrieval uncertainty due to RFI level systematic error PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_surface_temp Estimated SSS retrieval uncertainty due to sea surface temperature systematic error PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_sys Estimated systematic component of uncertainty in SSS PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_TbV_ice_contam Estimated SSS retrieval uncertainty due to ocean surface Tb sea-ice contamination systematic error PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_TbV_land_contam Estimated SSS retrieval uncertainty due to ocean surface Tb land contamination systematic error PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_wind_dir_rand Estimated SSS retrieval uncertainty due to wind direction random error PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_wind_speed_rand Estimated SSS retrieval uncertainty due to wind speed random error PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/SSS_unc_wind_speed_syst Estimated SSS retrieval uncertainty due to wind speed systematic error PSU float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Data/wind_uncertainty Estimated wind speed error meters/sec float -999 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Flags/radiometer_flags Radiometer data quality flags N/A uint N/A 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Flags/rad_rfi_flags Radiometer RFI flags N/A ubyte N/A 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Flags/rim_status_flag RIM processing status N/A ubyte N/A 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Flags/scatterometer_flags Scatterometer data quality flags N/A uint N/A 0 0 1 N/A
/Aquarius_Flags/scat_rfi_flags Scatterometer RFI flags N/A ubyte N/A 0 0 1 N/A
/Block_Attributes/rad_samples Number of radiometer samples per average N/A ushort N/A 0 0 1 N/A
/Block_Attributes/scat_samples Number of scatterometer samples per average N/A ushort N/A 0 0 1 N/A
/Block_Attributes/sec Block time, seconds of day seconds double -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Block_Attributes/secGPS Block time, GPS time seconds double -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Block_Attributes/solar xray flux Solar xray flux (0.1 - 0.8 nanometers) watts/m2 float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Converted_Telemetry/rad_caltemps Radiometer calibration temperatures N/A float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Converted_Telemetry/rad_ghh Radiometer HH gain N/A float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Converted_Telemetry/rad_gmm Radiometer MM gain N/A float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Converted_Telemetry/rad_gpp Radiometer PP gain N/A float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Converted_Telemetry/rad_gvv Radiometer VV gain N/A float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Converted_Telemetry/rad_oh Radiometer H offset N/A float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Converted_Telemetry/rad_om Radiometer M offset N/A float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Converted_Telemetry/rad_op Radiometer P offset N/A float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Converted_Telemetry/rad_ov Radiometer V offset N/A float -9999 0 0 1 N/A
/Navigation/acs_mode ACS Control Mode N/A ubyte N/A 3 to 6 1 N/A
/Navigation/att_ang Spacecraft roll, pitch, yaw degrees double -9999 -180 to 180 1 N/A
/Navigation/beam_clat Beam Center Latitude degrees float -9999 -90 to 90 1 N/A
/Navigation/beam_clon Beam Center Longitude degrees float -9999 -180 to 180 1 N/A
/Navigation/cellatfoot Geodectic Latitudes (3 dB) degrees float -9999 -90 to 90 1 N/A
/Navigation/cellonfoot East Longitudes (3 dB) degrees float -9999 -180 to 180 1 N/A
/Navigation/celphi Boresight Earth Azimuth Angle degrees float -9999 -180 to 180 1 N/A
/Navigation/celtht Boresight Earth Incidence Angle degrees float -9999 -180 to 180 1 N/A
/Navigation/glxlat Galaxy Declination (J2000) degrees float -9999 -90 to 90 1 N/A
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