OSCAR third degree resolution ocean surface currents

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DOI	10.5067/OSCAR-03D01
Short Name	OSCAR_L4_OC_third-deg
Description	OSCAR (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. These data were collected from the 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 1/3 degree grid with a 5 day resolution. OSCAR is generated by Earth Space Research (ESR) https://www.esr.org/research/oscar/
Version	1
Dataset Type	PREVIEW
Measurement	Oceans > Ocean Circulation > Ocean Currents > None
Processing Level	4
Coverage	Region: Global Northernmost Latitude: 66 degrees Southernmost Latitude: -66 degrees Westernmost Longitude: -180 degrees Easternmost Longitude: 180 degrees Time Span: 1992-Oct-12 to Present
Resolution	Spatial Resolution: 0.33 degrees (Latitude) x 0.33 degrees (Longitude) Temporal Resolution: 5 Day
Projection	Type: Gridded Detail: Ellipsoid:
Latency	120 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 / ENVISAT RA-2 SENSOR Name: ENVISAT Radar Altimeter 2 (ENVISAT 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-18 Platform Name: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-18 (NOAA-18) 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 / JMR SENSOR Name: JASON-1 MICROWAVE RADIOMETER (JMR) Swath Width: - km Description: The JMR mreasures teh 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 / TOPEX ALTIMETER SENSOR Name: TOPEX ALTIMETER (TOPEX ALTIMETER) 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 / POSEIDON ALTIMETER SENSOR Name: POSEIDON ALTIMETER (POSEIDON ALTIMETER) 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 / TOPEX MICROWAVE RADIOMETER SENSOR Name: TOPEX MICROWAVE RADIOMETER (TOPEX MICROWAVE RADIOMETER) 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-F10 Platform Name: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F10 (DMSP-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-F13 Platform Name: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F13 (DMSP-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-F11 Platform Name: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F11 (DMSP-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-F14 Platform Name: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F14 (DMSP-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-19 Platform Name: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-19 (NOAA-19) 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 ACC SENSOR Name: GRACE SuperSTAR Accelerometer (GRACE ACC) Swath Width: - 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 KBR SENSOR Name: K-Band Ranging System (GRACE KBR) Swath Width: - 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
Project	Ocean Surface Current Analysis (OSCAR)
Data Provider	Creator: ESR Release Place: JPL Release Date: 2009-May-01 Resource: ftp://podaac-ftp.jpl.nasa.gov/allData/oscar/preview/L4/oscar_third_deg/docs/oscarthirdguide.pdf
Persistent ID	PODAAC-OSCAR-03D01

Questions related to this dataset? Contact podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov

Direct Access
OPENDAP	https://podaac-opendap.jpl.nasa.gov/opendap/allData/oscar/preview/L4/oscar_third_deg/
FTP	ftp://podaac-ftp.jpl.nasa.gov/allData/oscar/preview/L4/oscar_third_deg
Format (Compression)	NETCDF (GZIP)
Web Service	http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/ws/search/granule/?datasetId=PODAAC-OSCAR-03D01&apidoc (Search Granule)
Tools and Services
SOTO	http://podaac-tools.jpl.nasa.gov/soto/ Select (Ocean Surface Current Speed/Vectors)
LAS	https://podaac-tools.jpl.nasa.gov/las Live Access Server

Citation

ESR. 2009. OSCAR third degree resolution ocean surface currents. Ver. 1. PO.DAAC, CA, USA. Dataset accessed [YYYY-MM-DD] at http://dx.doi.org/10.5067/OSCAR-03D01.

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.