The PO.DAAC is pleased to announce the release of the "RapidScat Level 2B Ocean Wind Vectors in 12.5km Slice Composites Version 1.1" dataset produced by the RapidScat Science Data Systems Team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). This dataset consists of the version 1.1 Level 2B (L2B) science-quality ocean surface wind vector retrievals from the RapidScat Ku-band scatterometer. RapidScat was designed and built from the recycled parts of the SeaWinds/QuikSCAT test instrument and launched by a Space-X Falcon-9/Dragon commercial cargo resupply spacecraft on 21 September 2014. It was subsequently mounted to the International Space Station (ISS). The current dataset time series extends from 3 October 2014 until near present day; new data will be provided iteratively for each orbit on a daily delivery cycle with a latency of no earlier than 7 days. The L2B data are provided on a swath-aligned grid at a 12.5 km grid cell resolution; as is common with all Level 2 data, swath-aligned grids are not in direct alignment with geographic coordinate systems, and may therefore require georectification for certain mapping and visualization applications (e.g., GIS). The 12.5 km grid cell 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.
This dataset is intended to be a replacement of the currently discontinued Version 1.0 dataset. Although the Version 1.0 dataset is discontinued, the historical data remains publicly available with full user support until further notice. Enhancements and updates with the Version 1.1 dataset include:
- A new neural network approach for high wind speeds providing rain corrections for the "retrieve_wind_speed" variable for wind speeds in excess of 15 m/s.
- The data variables containing the number of measurements of each type for each wind vector cell have been corrected; these variables include "number_in_aft", "number_in_fore", "number_out_aft", and "number_out_fore".
- The "wind_obj" data variable has been corrected to include the proper data for the conditional probability for the objective DIRTH function values.
The primary dataset information page is provided through our web portal
at:
http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/RSCAT_LEVEL_2B_OWV_COMP_12_V1.1.
Data files are provided in a CF-compliant, netCDF version 4 format,
accessible at:
ftp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/allData/rapidscat/L2B12/v1.1.
Read software is made available in MATLAB, Python, R and IDL and is
accessible here:
ftp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/allData/rapidscat/L2B12/sw.
Should you have any questions or wish to provide feedback on this dataset,
please contact us at:
podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov
*************************************************************************************
Cautionary Notes:
1) A User Guide is currently in the review process and is expected to be released by early June.
2) It is advised for users to avoid using the "wind_obj" variable since it is minimally applicable and meant primarily for quality assurance; for users who wish to access the objective function values for each ambiguity, it is suggested to use only the "ambiguity_obj" variable.
3) Due to the multi-operational roles of ISS, disruptions in the data flow
and data retrieval for RapidScat occur much more frequently than stand-alone
remote sensing platforms. Users depending on the availability of data within
the last 14 days are therefore advised to defer to the near-real time updates
provided by the following link at NOAA for adequate and timely information
regarding any planned or ongoing data outages:
http://manati.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/rscat_images/monitor/RapidScat_Scheduled_Outages.txt
*************************************************************************************