RapidScat Level 2A Surface Flagged Sigma-0 and Attenuations in 12.5Km Swath Grid Version 1.1

(RSCAT_L2A_12KM_V1.1)
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DOI10.5067/RSX12-L2A01
Short NameRSCAT_L2A_12KM_V1.1
DescriptionThis dataset contains the ISS-RapidScat on Level 2A 12.5 km science data record, which provides surface-flagged sigma-0 in 12.5 km Wind Vector Cells processed using the pulse "slice" Sigma-0 data provided by the Level 1B dataset. Due to the circular scan of the RapidScat instrument the expected number of Sigma-0 cells per WVC is not constant. To minimize the L2A data volume, the Sigma-0 cell data are stored as "lists" for each WVC row, with each list indexed by a "cell_index" array to indicate the cross-track WVC membership of the data. Each cell is then checked for land or ice and flagged accordingly. Attenuation corrections for each Sigma-0 measurement are also provided. Data are provided in single-orbit files in HDF-4 format. RapidScat is a Ku-band dual beam circular rotating scatterometer retaining much of the same hardware and functionality of QuikSCAT, with exception of the antenna sub-system and digital interface to the International Space Station (ISS) Columbus module, which is where RapidScat is mounted. The NASA mission is officially referred to as ISS-RapidScat. Unlike QuikSCAT, ISS-RapidScat is not in sun-synchronous orbit, and flies at roughly half the altitude with a low inclination angle that restricts data coverage to the tropics and mid-latitude regions; the extent of latitudinal coverage stretches from approximately 61 degrees North to 61 degrees South. Furthermore, there is no consistent local time of day retrieval.
Version1.1
Dataset TypeCOMPLETE
MeasurementSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING > RADAR > SIGMA NAUGHT
Processing Level2A
CoverageRegion: GLOBAL
North Bounding Coordinate: 61 degrees
South Bounding Coordinate: -61 degrees
West Bounding Coordinate: -180 degrees
East Bounding Coordinate: 180 degrees
Time Span: 2014-Oct-03 to 2016-Mar-10
Granule Time Span: 2014-Oct-03 to 2016-Mar-10
ResolutionSpatial Resolution: 12.5 km (Along) x 12.5 km (Across)
ProjectionEllipsoid: WGS 84
Swath Width900 km
Platform/Sensor
ISS
Platform
Name: International Space Station (ISS)
Orbit Period: 92.91 minutes
Inclination Angle: 51.65 degrees
/
RapidScat
SENSOR
Name: Rapid Scatterometer (RapidScat)
Swath Width: 1100.0 kilometers
Description: Spacecraft angular distance from orbital plane relative to the Equator.

ProjectInternational Space Station Rapid Scatterometer (ISS_RapidScat)
Data ProviderPublisher: PO.DAAC
Creator: RapidScat Project
Release Place: PO.DAAC
Release Date: 2015-Aug-19
Resource: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/fact_sheets/issrapidscat_factsheet.pdf

Keyword(s)international space station, space station, iss, rapidscat, rscat, iss-rapidscat, winds, radar, ocean, roughness, ocean roughness, backscatter, normalized radar cross-section, normalized radar cross section, nrcs, dB, sigma-0, sigma0, sigma naught, scatterometer, seawinds, l2a, l2, level 2, level 2a, 12.5 km, 12.5-km, 12.5, version 1, v1, version 1.1, v1.1, V1.1, 1.1
Questions related to this dataset? Contact podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov
DIRECT ACCESS
PO.DAAC DRIVEhttps://podaac-tools.jpl.nasa.gov/drive/files/allData/rapidscat/L2A/12km/v1.1
PO.DAAC Drive
OPENDAP DATAhttps://podaac-opendap.jpl.nasa.gov/opendap/allData/rapidscat/L2A/12km/v1.1/
The OPeNDAP base directory location for the collection.
FormatHDF
ANOMALIES
GENERAL DOCUMENTATION
DATA CITATION POLICY
Citation RapidScat Project. 2015. RapidScat Level 2A Surface Flagged Sigma-0 and Attenuations in 12.5Km Swath Grid Version 1.1. Ver. 1.1. PO.DAAC, CA, USA. Dataset accessed [YYYY-MM-DD] at https://doi.org/10.5067/RSX12-L2A01

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For more information see Data Citations and Acknowledgments.
Journal Reference Fore, A.G., Stiles, B.W., Chau, A.H., Williams, B.A., Dunbar, R. S., Rodriguez E., 2013: Point-wise Wind Retrieval and Ambiguity Removal Improvements for the QuikSCAT Climatological Data Set. IEEE Trans. Geoscience and Remote Sensing, doi:10.1109/TGRS.2012.2235843. [Special Note: This paper describes the wind retrieval algorithm used to process the QuikSCAT version 3 wind product. The RapidScat data was processed using the same technique.]

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