Aquarius

New PO.DAAC Aquarius Level 3 Image Browser Tool

_{February 21, 2012}

We are pleased to announce the release of PO.DAAC's new, interactive Aquarius Level 3  image browser.  The tool is now available online at http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/aquarius/gallery.  The browser allows effortless navigation and viewing of PO.DAAC Aquarius imagery data holdings by time period as individual global sea surface salinity (SSS) maps and animation sequences.  Simply pick the image type (Daily, Weekly or Monthly composite) and use the calendar selector tool to choose a period of interest.  Selectable thumbnails of all available data for the chosen period appear sequentially in the image Galley portion of the page.  Click on a particular item in the gallery listing or a specific date in the calendar tool to see the full image with associated salinity color scale.  Use the interactive controls to step forward or back through the sequence or view as an animation.  Double click on the image in focus to see an enlarged rendering within a popup window, and use mouse controls to zoom into particular areas of interest.

All images are of global, 1 degree spatial resolution Aquarius Level 3 v1.2dr data archived and distributed by PO.DAAC.  Access to the underlying source data files is possible via links provided.  Please note that Aquarius v1.2dr release data are for evaluation only and are not to be used for scientific research purposes.  These data are available via FTP at http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/AquariusDataAccess  upon prior acknowledgement of this disclaimer and registration at http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/registration/ .

Accompanying Image:
Snapshot of L3 browser tool page showing the various elements described above.

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Level 2 and Level 3 data for version V1.2DR of the Aquarius/SAC-D data set now available

_{February 15, 2012}

The PO.DAAC would like to announce the availability of both Level 2 and Level 3 data for version V1.2DR of the Aquarius/SAC-D data set. The differences between V1.2DR and V1.2 result from the change of correction technique for radiometer calibration drift. V1.2 uses the global averaged differences of Aquarius brightness temperatures and the radiative transfer model of brightness temperatures computed using many ancillary data, such as the NCEP surface winds. For V1.2DR, the brightness temperature corrections are computed using the noise-diode deflection ratios derived from the instrument data alone, and the ancillary data were only used to train the coefficients in the deflection-ratio based correction model initially.
 

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Aquarius Level 3 V1.2 evaluation dataset now available

_{February 1, 2012}

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Aquarius Data Version 1.2 Updated

_{December 9, 2011}

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New Aquarius/Salinity Forum

_{November 28, 2011}

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Aquarius V1.2 Data
_{October 31, 2011}

 See all "Official Aquarius/SAC-D" Announcements

The Aquarius/SAC-D mission is a joint venture between NASA and the Argentinian Space Agency (CONAE).  Scheduled to launch no earlier than June 9th the mission features the sea surface salinity sensor Aquarius.

This instrument will carry 3 radiometers, and 1 scatterometer.  They will be operating at 1.4 GHz & 1.2 GHz respectively.  The data collected by the radiometer will be used together with sea surface temperature collected from another platform(s), to derive salinity data.  This will be corrected for surface roughness using data from the Aquarius scatterometer.

The satellite will cross the equator at 6am and pm.  The Aquarius instrument will continuously point away from the sun to avoid glint.
 
PO.DAAC will be providing Level 2 SSS data as well as gridded level 3 degree SSS products generated by the Aquarius Ground Segment at Goddard.  Level 3 products will be produced with temporal resolutions of daily, 8 day, monthly, 3 months, and annual. The Aquarius instrument will provide global coverage every 7 days. The spatial resolution will be approximately 100km.