Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content
  • Feedback
    • This is a Non-Federal dataset covered by different Terms of Use than Data.gov.

    RapidScat Level 2B Ocean Wind Vectors in 12.5km Slice Composites Version 1.2

    Metadata Updated: February 22, 2025

    This dataset contains the RapidScat Level 2B 12.5km Version 1.2 science-quality ocean surface wind vectors, which are intended as a replacement and continuation of the Version 1.1 data forward from orbital revolution number 5127, corresponding to 19 August 2015; the overlapping time period starting on 19 August 2015 corresponds to the first time period of the recorded low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The Level 2B wind vectors are binned on a 12.5 km Wind Vector Cell (WVC) grid and processed using the Level 2A Sigma-0 dataset. 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. This dataset is provided in a netCDF-3 file format that follows the netCDF-4 classic model (i.e., generated by the netCDF-4 API) and made available via FTP and OPeNDAP. For data access, please click on the "Data Access" tab above. This Version 1.2 dataset differs from the previous Version 1.1 dataset as follows: 1) L1B sigma-0 has been re-calibrated during the periods of low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and 2) during low SNR periods the L1B sigma-0 calibration is determined using re-pointed L1B QuikSCAT data. It is advised for users to avoid using the "wind_obj" variable in this dataset 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. The "wind_obj" variable contains DIRTH probabilities (which are derived form the "ambiguity_obj" objective function values) in the range of 0 to 1 indicating the conditional probability that the true direction is within + or - 2.5 degrees of the retrieved wind direction given the observed backscatter measurements in the cell. If you have any questions or concerns, please visit our Forum at https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/forum/.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. Non-Federal: This dataset is covered by different Terms of Use than Data.gov. License: No license information was provided.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date February 22, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date February 22, 2025

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from nasa test json

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date February 22, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date February 22, 2025
    Publisher NASA/JPL/PODAAC
    Maintainer
    Identifier C2526576305-POCLOUD
    Data First Published 2016-04-18
    Language en-US
    Data Last Modified 2025-02-19
    Category ISS_RapidScat, geospatial
    Public Access Level public
    Bureau Code 026:00
    Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Harvest Object Id 269a48ba-ecab-4fbe-83db-308b147bfb14
    Harvest Source Id a73e0c30-4684-40ef-908e-d22e9e9e5f86
    Harvest Source Title nasa test json
    Homepage URL https://doi.org/10.5067/RSX12-L2B12
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial -180.0 -61.0 180.0 61.0
    Program Code 026:001
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash 9f68b42e6d42d1b228b07cb81129aaf71eb0195956002ddf02d8fcb7946c84fc
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial
    Temporal 2015-08-19T03:48:11Z/2016-08-19T15:01:26Z

    Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.