OSCAR 1 degree ocean surface currents
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DOI10.5067/OSCAR-10D01
Short NameOSCAR_L4_OC_1deg
DescriptionOSCAR (Ocean Surface Current Analysis Real-time) contains near-surface ocean current estimates, derived using quasi-linear and steady flow momentum equations. The horizontal velocity is directly estimated from sea surface height, surface vector wind and sea surface temperature data. These input data sources are derived from various satellites and in situ instruments. The model formulation combines geostrophic, Ekman and Stommel shear dynamics, and a complementary term from the surface buoyancy gradient. Data are on a 1 degree grid with a 5 day resolution. OSCAR is generated by Earth Space Research (ESR) https://www.esr.org/research/oscar/oscar-surface-currents/
Version1
Dataset TypeOPEN
MeasurementOCEANS > OCEAN CIRCULATION > OCEAN CURRENTS > NONE
Processing Level4
CoverageRegion: Global
Northernmost Latitude: 66 degrees
Southernmost Latitude: -66 degrees
Westernmost Longitude: -180 degrees
Easternmost Longitude: 180 degrees
Time Span: 1992-Jan-01 to Present
Granule Time Span: 1992-Jan-01 to Present
ResolutionSpatial Resolution: 1 degrees (Latitude) x 1 degrees (Longitude)
Temporal Resolution: 5 Day
ProjectionType: Gridded
Detail:
Ellipsoid:
Latency120 hours
Platform/Sensor
ENVISAT
Platform
Name: Environmental Satellite (ENVISAT)
Orbit Period: 100.59 minutes
Inclination Angle: 98.55 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
RA-2
SENSOR
Name: Radar Altimeter 2 (RA-2)
Swath Width: 5 km
Description: Nadir pointing radar altimeter measuring at 13.575 GHz (Ku band) and 3.2 GHz (S band)

METOP-A
Platform
Name: Meteorological Operational Satellite - A (METOP-A)
Orbit Period: 101.3 minutes
Inclination Angle: 98.7 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
AVHRR-3
SENSOR
Name: Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer-3 (AVHRR-3)
Swath Width: 2400 km
Description: The AVHRR is a radiation-detection imager that can be used for remotely determining cloud cover and the surface temperature. Note that the term surface can mean the surface of the Earth, the upper surfaces of clouds, or the surface of a body of water.

NOAA-16
Platform
Name: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-16 (NOAA-16)
Orbit Period: 102.1 minutes
Inclination Angle: 99 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
AVHRR-3
SENSOR
Name: Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer-3 (AVHRR-3)
Swath Width: 2400 km
Description: The AVHRR is a radiation-detection imager that can be used for remotely determining cloud cover and the surface temperature. Note that the term surface can mean the surface of the Earth, the upper surfaces of clouds, or the surface of a body of water.

NOAA-17
Platform
Name: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-17 (NOAA-17)
Orbit Period: 101.2 minutes
Inclination Angle: 98.7 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
AVHRR-3
SENSOR
Name: Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer-3 (AVHRR-3)
Swath Width: 2400 km
Description: The AVHRR is a radiation-detection imager that can be used for remotely determining cloud cover and the surface temperature. Note that the term surface can mean the surface of the Earth, the upper surfaces of clouds, or the surface of a body of water.

NOAA-19
Platform
Name: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-19 (NOAA-19)
Orbit Period: 102.12 minutes
Inclination Angle: 98.74 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
AVHRR-3
SENSOR
Name: Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer-3 (AVHRR-3)
Swath Width: 2400 km
Description: The AVHRR is a radiation-detection imager that can be used for remotely determining cloud cover and the surface temperature. Note that the term surface can mean the surface of the Earth, the upper surfaces of clouds, or the surface of a body of water.

JASON-1
Platform
Name: JASON-1 (JASON-1)
Orbit Period: 112.43 minutes
Inclination Angle: 66.04 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
POSEIDON-2
SENSOR
Name: JASON-1 RADAR ALTIMETER (POSEIDON-2)
Swath Width: - km
Description: The Poseidon-2 altimeter, operating at 13.575 GHz (Ku band) and 5.3 GHz (C band), is the primary sensor for the JASON-1 mission. The measurements made at the two frequencies are combined to obtain measurements of the altimeter range, wind speed, significant wave height, and the ionospheric correction. The Poseidon-2 package consists of dual redundant altimeter units each of which has low mass and low power consumption.

JASON-1
Platform
Name: JASON-1 (JASON-1)
Orbit Period: 112.43 minutes
Inclination Angle: 66.04 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
JASON-1 Microwave Radiometer
SENSOR
Name: JASON-1 MICROWAVE RADIOMETER (JASON-1 Microwave Radiometer)
Swath Width: 22.9 km
Description: The JMR measures the sea surface microwave brightness temperatures at three frequencies (18.7 GHz, 23.8 GHz and 34.0 GHz) to provide the total water vapor content in the troposphere along the altimeter beam. The 23.8 GHz channel is the primary channel for water-vapor measurement and is a redundant channel on the JMR. The 18.7 GHz channel provides a correction for wind-induced effects in the sea surface background emissions, and the 34.0 GHz channel provides a correction for cloud liquid water. The measurements are combined to obtain the error in the satellite range measurements caused by pulse delay due to the water vapor.

QUIKSCAT
Platform
Name: QUIKSCAT (QUIKSCAT)
Orbit Period: 100.93 minutes
Inclination Angle: 98.6 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
SEAWINDS
SENSOR
Name: SeaWinds Scatterometer (SEAWINDS)
Swath Width: 1800 km
Description: SeaWinds is a Ku-band (13.4 GHz) Scatterometer which features a single circular scanning dish antenna to provide pencil-beam measurements, as opposed to the common fan beam design as seen with other spaceborne scatterometers. The pencil-beam design has several key advantages over the more common fan beam design: higher signal-to-noise ratio, smaller size, and superior coverage. The SeaWinds single antenna utilizes twin offset feeds, thus providing two pencil-beam footprint paths with an elliptical sampling footprint of approximately 25 km (in azimuth) by 37 km (in look/range direction); these pencil beams have opposing polarizations (i.e., vertical and horizontal), thus achieving dual-polarization. The SeaWinds instrument provides a full 1800 km-wide swath coverage (including the nadir region), which allows for a nominal daily measurement coverage of 90% over the ice-free oceans.

TOPEX/POSEIDON
Platform
Name: Topography Experiment/Poseidon (TOPEX/POSEIDON)
Orbit Period: 112.43 minutes
Inclination Angle: 66.04 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
ALT (TOPEX)
SENSOR
Name: TOPEX ALTIMETER (ALT (TOPEX))
Swath Width: 5 km
Description: A satellite altimeter consists of a transmitter that sends out very sharp pulses, a sensitive receiver to record the pulse after it is reflected from the sea surface, and an accurate clock to note the time interval between transmission and reception. Examples of satellite altimeters used in the remote sensing of ocean surface height, wave height and wind speed are Seasat, Geosat and Topex/Poseidon.

TOPEX/POSEIDON
Platform
Name: Topography Experiment/Poseidon (TOPEX/POSEIDON)
Orbit Period: 112.43 minutes
Inclination Angle: 66.04 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
SSALT
SENSOR
Name: POSEIDON Solid State Radar Altimeter (SSALT)
Swath Width: 5 km
Description: A satellite altimeter consists of a transmitter that sends out very sharp pulses, a sensitive receiver to record the pulse after it is reflected from the sea surface, and an accurate clock to note the time interval between transmission and reception. Examples of satellite altimeters used in the remote sensing of ocean surface height, wave height and wind speed are Seasat, Geosat and Topex/Poseidon.

TOPEX/POSEIDON
Platform
Name: Topography Experiment/Poseidon (TOPEX/POSEIDON)
Orbit Period: 112.43 minutes
Inclination Angle: 66.04 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
TMR
SENSOR
Name: TOPEX MICROWAVE RADIOMETER (TMR)
Swath Width: 5 km
Description: The TMR measures the sea surface microwave brightness temperatures at three frequencies (18 GHz, 21 GHz and 37 GHz) to provide the total water-vapor content in the troposphere along the altimeter beam. The 21 GHz channel is the primary channel for water-vapor measurement. It is redundant (21A and 21B). The 18 GHz and 37 GHz channels are used to remove the effects of wind speed and cloud cover, respectively in the water-vapor measurement. TMR data are sent to CNES for processing along with their altimeter data. The measurements are combined to obtain the error in the satellite range measurements caused by pulse delay due to the water vapor.

ERS-1
Platform
Name: European Remote Sensing Satellite-1 (ERS-1)
Orbit Period: 100.3 minutes
Inclination Angle: 98.5 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
ERS-1 ALTIMETER
SENSOR
Name: European Remote Sensing 1 altimeter (ERS-1 ALTIMETER)
Swath Width: 143 km
Description: A satellite altimeter consists of a transmitter that sends out very sharp pulses, a sensitive receiver to record the pulse after it is reflected from the sea surface, and an accurate clock to note the time interval between transmission and reception. Examples of satellite altimeters used in the remote sensing of ocean surface height, wave height and wind speed are Seasat, Geosat and Topex/Poseidon.

ERS-2
Platform
Name: European Remote Sensing Satellite-2 (ERS-2)
Orbit Period: 100.3 minutes
Inclination Angle: 98.5 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
ERS-2 Altimeter
SENSOR
Name: European Remote Sensing 2 altimeter (ERS-2 Altimeter)
Swath Width: - km
Description: Radar Altimeter (RA) provides accurate measurements of sea surface elevation, significant wave heights, various ice parameters and an estimate of sea surface wind speed.

DMSP 5D-2/F10
Platform
Name: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F10 (DMSP 5D-2/F10)
Orbit Period: 102 minutes
Inclination Angle: 98.8 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
SSM/I
SENSOR
Name: Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I)
Swath Width: 1394 km
Description: The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) flown on board the DMSP F8, F10, F11, F13, F14, and F15 platforms is designed to measure ocean surface wind speed, ice coverage and age, cloud water content, rainfall and atmospheric vertical temperature and humidity profiles.

DMSP 5D-2/F13
Platform
Name: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F13 (DMSP 5D-2/F13)
Orbit Period: 102 minutes
Inclination Angle: 98.8 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
SSM/I
SENSOR
Name: Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I)
Swath Width: 1394 km
Description: The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) flown on board the DMSP F8, F10, F11, F13, F14, and F15 platforms is designed to measure ocean surface wind speed, ice coverage and age, cloud water content, rainfall and atmospheric vertical temperature and humidity profiles.

DMSP 5D-2/F11
Platform
Name: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F11 (DMSP 5D-2/F11)
Orbit Period: 102 minutes
Inclination Angle: 98.8 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
SSM/I
SENSOR
Name: Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I)
Swath Width: 1394 km
Description: The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) flown on board the DMSP F8, F10, F11, F13, F14, and F15 platforms is designed to measure ocean surface wind speed, ice coverage and age, cloud water content, rainfall and atmospheric vertical temperature and humidity profiles.

DMSP 5D-2/F14
Platform
Name: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F14 (DMSP 5D-2/F14)
Orbit Period: 102 minutes
Inclination Angle: 98.8 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
SSM/I
SENSOR
Name: Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I)
Swath Width: 1394 km
Description: The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) flown on board the DMSP F8, F10, F11, F13, F14, and F15 platforms is designed to measure ocean surface wind speed, ice coverage and age, cloud water content, rainfall and atmospheric vertical temperature and humidity profiles.

GFO
Platform
Name: GEOSAT FOLLOW-ON-1 (GFO)
Orbit Period: 33220 minutes
Inclination Angle: 108 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
GFO Altimeter
SENSOR
Name: Geosat Follow On Altimeter (GFO Altimeter)
Swath Width: - km
Description: Radar altimeter on GFO measuring at 13.5 GHz

NOAA-14
Platform
Name: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-14 (NOAA-14)
Orbit Period: 102 minutes
Inclination Angle: 99 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
AVHRR-2
SENSOR
Name: Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer-2 (AVHRR-2)
Swath Width: 2400 km
Description: The AVHRR is a radiation-detection imager that can be used for remotely determining cloud cover and the surface temperature of water land and clouds.

NOAA-20
Platform
Name: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-20 (NOAA-20)
Orbit Period: 102 minutes
Inclination Angle: 99 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
AVHRR-3
SENSOR
Name: Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer-3 (AVHRR-3)
Swath Width: 2400 km
Description: The AVHRR is a radiation-detection imager that can be used for remotely determining cloud cover and the surface temperature. Note that the term surface can mean the surface of the Earth, the upper surfaces of clouds, or the surface of a body of water.

OSTM/JASON-2
Platform
Name: Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason-2 (OSTM/JASON-2)
Orbit Period: 112.43 minutes
Inclination Angle: 66.04 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
POSEIDON-3
SENSOR
Name: OSTM/Jason-2 RADAR alitmieter (POSEIDON-3)
Swath Width: 5.1 km
Description: The Poseidon-3 altimeter, operating at 13.575 GHz (Ku band) and 5.3 GHz (C band), is the primary sensor for the OSTM mission. The measurements made at the two frequencies are combined to obtain measurements of the altimeter range, wind speed, significant wave height, and the ionoshperic correction. The Poseidon-3 package consists of dual redundant altimeter units each of which has low mass and low power consumption.

OSTM/JASON-2
Platform
Name: Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason-2 (OSTM/JASON-2)
Orbit Period: 112.43 minutes
Inclination Angle: 66.04 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
AMR
SENSOR
Name: Advanced Microwave Radiometer (AMR)
Swath Width: - km
Description: -

GRACE
Platform
Name: Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)
Orbit Period: -1 minutes
Inclination Angle: 89 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
GRACE-FO ACC
SENSOR
Name: GRACE-FO SuperSTAR Accelerometer (GRACE-FO ACC)
Swath Width: -1 km
Description: The accelerometer, located at the center of mass of each satellite, measures all non-gravitational forces acting on each satellite. These forces include air drag, solar radiation pressure, and attitude control activator operation.

GRACE
Platform
Name: Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)
Orbit Period: -1 minutes
Inclination Angle: 89 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
GRACE SCA
SENSOR
Name: Star Camera Assembly (GRACE SCA)
Swath Width: - km
Description: The two star cameras mounted close to the accelerometer on each satellite provide the precise attitude references for the satellites when making science measurements.

GRACE
Platform
Name: Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)
Orbit Period: -1 minutes
Inclination Angle: 89 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
GRACE-FO KBR
SENSOR
Name: GRACE-FO K-Band Ranging System (GRACE-FO KBR)
Swath Width: -1 km
Description: This instrument precisely measures the changes in the separation between the two GRACE satellites using phase tracking of K- and Ka-band signals sent between the two satellites

JASON-3
Platform
Name: Jason-3 (JASON-3)
Orbit Period: 112 minutes
Inclination Angle: 66.05 degrees
Ascending Node: 1970-Jan-01 00:00:00
/
POSEIDON-3B
SENSOR
Name: POSEIDON-3B (POSEIDON-3B)
Swath Width: 5.1 km
Description: POSEIDON-3B

ProjectOcean Surface Current Analysis (OSCAR)
Data ProviderCreator: ESR
Release Place: JPL
Release Date: 2007-Nov-30
Resource: https://podaac-tools.jpl.nasa.gov/drive/files/allData/oscar/L4/oscar_1_deg/docs/
Keyword(s)oscar, ocean currents, sea surface currents, currents
Persistent IDPODAAC-OSCAR-10D01
Questions related to this dataset? Contact podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov
Citation ESR. 2007. OSCAR 1 degree ocean surface currents. Ver. 1. PO.DAAC, CA, USA. Dataset accessed [YYYY-MM-DD] at https://doi.org/10.5067/OSCAR-10D01.

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For more information see Data Citations and Acknowledgments.
Journal Reference Bonjean, F., and G. S. E. Lagerloef, 2002. Diagnostic model and analysis of the surface currents in the tropical Pacific Ocean. J. Phys. Oceanogr., vol. 32, pg. 2938-2954.