SeaWinds on QuikSCAT Level 3 Daily Gridded Ocean Wind Vectors

Brief description

The QuikSCAT Level 3 dataset contains 0.25 degree gridded ocean surface wind vector fields from the NASA SeaWinds scatterometer aboard the QuikSCAT satellite platform. SeaWinds is the main instrument on the QuikSCAT satellite. SeaWinds is an active radar scatterometer. This scatterometer operates by transmitting high-frequency microwave pulses to the ocean surface and measuring the echoed radar pulses bounced back to the satellite. The scatterometer estimates wind speed and direction over the Earth's oceans at 10 m above the surface of the water. The instrument collects data over ocean, land, and ice in a continuous, 1,800-kilometer-wide band, making approximately 400,000 measurements and covering 90% of Earth's surface in one day. QuikSCAT can acquire hundreds of times more observations of surface wind velocity each day than can ships and buoys, and can provide continuous, accurate and high-resolution measurements of both wind speeds and direction regardless of weather conditions. This data is vital for global climate research, operational weather forecasting, and storm warning. Gridded wind vector fields are provided twice daily according to the timing of the ascending and descending satellite swath coverage. Gridded wind vector fields are processed directly from the QuikSCAT Level 2B swath data which uses the QSCAT-1 geophysical model function. No additional processing to the wind vector data is applied. Disclaimer: this dataset is meant for quick-look purposes only and is not intended for science-quality research applications.