QuikSCAT Level 2B Ocean Wind Vectors in 12.5km Slice Composites Version 3.1
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DOI10.5067/QSX12-L2B31
Short NameQSCAT_LEVEL_2B_OWV_COMP_12_LCR_3.1
DescriptionThis dataset contains the latest reprocessed version 3.1 of the Level 2B science-quality ocean surface wind vector retrievals from the QuikSCAT scatterometer. The retrievals are provided on a non-uniform grid within the swath at 12.5 km pixel resolution. Higher resolution is achieved through a slice composite technique in which high resolution slice measurements from L1B data are composited into a 12.5 km wind vector cell. Version 3.1 processing begins with the same L1B (time-ordered backscatter) data as used in the previous Version 3.0 processing. Version 3.1 improves upon the previous Version 3.0 processing by incorporating enhanced coastal processing using a Land Contamination Ratio (LCR) method with a fixed threshold. The 12.5 km binning resolution combined with the LCR processing enables this dataset to provide wind vector retrievals with approximately half the coastal gap as compared to the Version 3.0 12.5 km L2B dataset. The geophysical model function used to produce the wind vector cell retrievals remains unchanged between Version 3.0 and 3.1. Each L2B file corresponds to a specific orbital revolution (rev) number, which begins at the southernmost point of the ascending orbit. This is the official dataset produced by the NASA QuikSCAT Project through the SeaWinds Processing and Analysis Center (SeaPAC). More details to the processing changes and improvements are to be published in the near future, but for now can be referenced by the following presentation: https://mdc.coaps.fsu.edu/scatterometry/meeting/docs/2016/Thu_AM/coastal-poster.pdf.
Version3.1
Dataset TypeOPEN
MeasurementOCEANS > OCEAN WINDS > SURFACE WINDS > Ocean Surface Wind Vectors
Processing Level2
CoverageRegion: Global
Northernmost Latitude: 90 degrees
Southernmost Latitude: -90 degrees
Westernmost Longitude: 0 degrees
Easternmost Longitude: 360 degrees
Time Span: 1999-Oct-27 to 2009-Nov-22
Granule Time Span: 1999-Oct-27 to 2009-Nov-22
ResolutionSpatial Resolution: 12.5 km (Along) x 12.5 km (Across)
ProjectionType: Swath
Detail: Along-track Grid
Ellipsoid: WGS 84
Latency hours
Swath Width1800000 m
Sample Frequency-
Temporal Repeat (Nominal)12 Hour
Temporal Repeat (Min)1.7 Hour
Temporal Repeat (Max)4 Day
Platform/Sensor
QUIKSCAT
Platform
Name: QUIKSCAT (QUIKSCAT)
Orbit Period: 100.93 minutes
Inclination Angle: 98.6 degrees
Ascending Node: 1999-Jul-19 06:04:49
/
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.

ProjectQuick Scatterometer (QUIKSCAT)
Data ProviderCreator: SeaPAC
Release Place: PO.DAAC
Release Date: 2016-Jul-12
Resource: https://podaac-tools.jpl.nasa.gov/drive/files/allData/quikscat/L2B12/docs/qscat_l2b_v3_ug_v1_0.pdf
Keyword(s)wind data, wind, ocean wind, wind speed, vector, vectors, ocean wind vector, ocean wind vectors, seawinds, quikscat, scatterometer, l2b, version 3.1, v3.1, level 2, level 2b
Persistent IDPODAAC-QSX12-L2B31
Questions related to this dataset? Contact podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov
User's Guide
QuikSCAT L2B User Guidehttps://podaac-tools.jpl.nasa.gov/drive/files/allData/quikscat/L2B12/docs/qscat_l2b_v3_ug_v1_0.pdf
Dataset User Guide
Project Materials
QuikSCAT Mission Pagehttp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/QuikSCAT
QuikSCAT Mission Page at PO.DAAC
Known Issues
QuikSCAT Known Problems and Issueshttp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/OceanWind/QuikSCAT/SeaWinds-QuikSCAT_KnownProblems
Web Page Consisting of Known Problems, Issues, and Data Gaps
Citation SeaPAC. 2016. QuikSCAT Level 2B Ocean Wind Vectors in 12.5km Slice Composites Version 3.1. Ver. 3.1. PO.DAAC, CA, USA. Dataset accessed [YYYY-MM-DD] at https://doi.org/10.5067/QSX12-L2B31.

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