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WindSat Data Products: Daily

WindSat data are produced by Remote Sensing Systems and sponsored by the NASA Earth Science MEaSUREs DISCOVER Project and the NASA Earth Science Physical Oceanography Program. This is Remote Sensing System’s second public release of WindSat geophysical data products; produced using Version-7.0.1 (V7.0.1) algorithm. The geophysical parameters are derived from observations made by the WindSat Polarimetric Radiometer developed by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and launched on January 6, 2003 aboard the Department of Defense Coriolis satellite. This radiometer is well-calibrated and contains the lower frequency channels required for SST retrievals. The radiometer operates in 5 discrete bands: 6.8, 10.7, 18.7, 23.8 and 37.0 GHz. The 10.7, 18.7 and 37.0 GHz bands are fully polarimetric whereas the 6.8 and 23.8 GHz bands have only dual polarization. The feedhorns of each frequency band trace out different arcs along the scan, therefore the Earth Incidence Angles (EIA) are different for each frequency band. Unlike previous radiometers, the WindSat sensor takes observations during both the forward and aft looking scans. This makes the WindSat geometry of the earth view swath quite different and significantly more complicated than the other passive microwave sensors. The RSS WindSat product is the only dataset available that uses both the fore and aft look directions which results in a wider swath and more complicated swath geometry visible in the provided maps.

The geophysical products include Sea Surface Temperature (SST); a variety of Surface Wind Speeds and Directions; Atmospheric Water Vapor; Cloud Liquid Water; and Rain Rate. There are gaps within these data. Missing data generally affect only Daily and 3-Day products, but can also reduce the number of observations in Weekly and Monthly averages. Data gaps are generally due to missing data upstream from processing facility, such as the instrument being turned off. Occasionally, there are delays in obtaining and/or processing recently recorded data; beyond several weeks, it is unlikely that missing data will become available.

The daily products consist of orbital data mapped to 0.25 degree regular grid complete with data gaps between orbits. Two maps exist for each parameter, one of descending orbit segments (local morning passes) and the other of ascending orbit segments (local evening passes). Daily data products contain time maps consisting of the UTC observation time for each set of passes (descending and ascending).

For more details about these products please refer the Description of WindSat Data Products.

Variables	Time (minutes since midnight GMT) Cloud Liquid Water (mm) Rain Rate (mm/hr) Sea Surface Temperature (°C) Atmospheric Water Vapor (mm) 10-meter Surface Wind Direction - relative to north - (deg) 10-meter Surface Wind Speed - All Weather - (m/s) 10-meter Surface Wind Speed - Low Frequency - (m/s) 10-meter Surface Wind Speed - Med Frequency - (m/s)
Zonal	Global by 0.25 deg
Meridional	Global by 0.25 deg
Vertical	N/A
Temporal	Feb 5, 2003 to Jun 31, 2019 by 1 day(s)
Static?	no
Volume	2.2GB per all variables per month
Server	public:
Source	http://www.remss.com/missions/windsat
Acquired	Feb 10, 2012 (Updated Sep 2019)
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