SCATSAT-1 ESDR Level 2 Ancillary Ocean Surface Fields Version 1.1

This dataset contains the first science quality release (post-provisional after v1.0) of the MEaSUREs-funded Earth Science Data Record (ESDR) of ancillary data corresponding to the SCATSAT-1 Level 2 (L2) data products, interpolated in space and time to the scatterometer observations. These auxiliary fields are included to complement those scatterometer observations, specifically for the SCATSAT_ESDR_L2_WIND_STRESS_V1.1 dataset. The fields include: i) ocean surface wind fields from ERA-5 short-term forecast (removed from the analyses times to reduce impacts from assimilated scatterometer retrievals at the beginning of the forecast); ii) collocated in space and time estimations of precipitation from the GPM IMERG product; iii) estimation of the surface currents from the GlobCurrent project. These auxiliary fields are included to complement the scatterometer observation fields and to help in the evaluation process. They are provided on a non-uniform grid within the native L2 SCATSAT-1 sampled locations at a nominal 12.5 km pixel resolution. Each file corresponds to a specific orbital revolution (rev) number, which begins at the southernmost point of the ascending orbit. The thumbnail shows data for two orbits - using all orbits for a single day will provide global coverage.

The dataset represents the first science quality release of this product with funding from the MEaSUREs (Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments) program. Version 1.1 provides a set of updates and improvements from version 1.0, including: 1) improved variable metadata, 2) removed the GlobCurrent stokes drift variables, and 3) provided data source metadata including DOIs for the ERA-5, IMERGE, and GlobCurrent data sources. The primary purpose of this release is for science evaluation by the NASA International Ocean Vector Winds Science Team (IOVWST).