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A tabular summary provides key details. Additional information is given in written descriptions following the table. The names of the products in the table are linked to the written descriptions. These descriptions include contact information, sites from which the data is available (or email contact with the people who will send the data), links to documentation, links to read routines, and references.
| Data Set | Spatial Coverage | Spatial Grid | Temporal Coverage | Temporal Grid | Data Fields | Non-NSCAT Input | Processing Technique |
| Project Level 3 | Global (in swaths) | 0.5x0.5° | Sept. 15, 1996 to June 29, 1997 | Daily | u, v, w, variability statistics | None | Vector average within swaths |
| Cheng, Chao, and Liu Winds | Global | 1x1° | Sept. 15, 1996 to June 29, 1997 | 2 Days | u, v | ECMWF Winds | Gaussian-weighted interpolation |
| COAPS/FSU Objectively Analyzed | Indian Ocean 34.5S - 28.5N, 25.5E - 124.5E | 1x1° | Oct. 1, 1996 to June 25, 1997 | Daily | UW, VW, w | None | Variational method, with objectively determined weights |
| Pacific Ocean | 1x1° | Oct. 1, 1996 to June 25, 1997 | |||||
| Global | 1x1° | Oct. 1, 1996 to June 25, 1997 | |||||
| COAPS/FSU Temporal Averaged | Global | 1x1° or 0.5x0.5° |
Sept. 15, 1996 to June 29, 1997 | Daily | u, v | None | Centered, temporally weighted, mean |
| COAPS/FSU Monthly Averaged | Global | 0.5x0.5° | Oct. 1996 to June 1997 | Monthly | tx,ty | None | Monthly mean |
| Ifremer/Cersat Mean Surface Fields | Global | 1x1° | Aug. 5, 1991 to March 1, 1998 | Bi-Weekly and Bi-Monthly | u, v, tx,ty, wind div., wind curl | ERS-1/2 Winds | Objective interpolation with a minimum variance method |
| Kelly, Caruso, and Dickinson pseudostress maps | Tropical Pacific | 1x1° | Nov. 1, 1996 to June 26, 1997 | Daily | UW, VW | None | Objective average |
| Kutsuwada (Tokai University) Daily weighted-mean vectors | 30E to 90W | 1x1° | Sept. 15, 1996 to June 29, 1997 | Daily | u, v, tx,ty | None | Weighted mean |
| Milliff, Large, Morzel, Danabasoglu and Chin Blended Fields | Global | 0.5x0.5° | Aug. 1, 1996 to July 31, 1997 | 6 hours | u, v | ERS-2 winds and NCEP | wavelet based multiresolution analysis |
| Polito, Liu and Tang Correlation-based interpolation | Global | 0.5x0.5° | Sept. 15, 1996 to June 29, 1997 | daily | u, v, tx, ty, Div. of Stress, Ekman Pumping | None | correlation-based interpolation |
| Tang and Liu Objective Interpolation | Global | 0.5x0.5° | Sept. 15, 1996 to June 29, 1997 | 12 hours | u, v | ECMWF | Successive correction |
Please send updates and comments to NSCAT-products@coaps.fsu.edu.
Definitions of Symbols
| Symbol | Definition |
|---|---|
| u | Zonal (west to east) wind speed |
| v | Meridional (south to north) wind speed |
| UW | Zonal (west to east) pseudo-stress |
| VW | Meridional (south to north) pseudo-stress |
| tx | Zonal (west to east) stress |
| ty | Meridional (south to north) stress |
Project Level 3 Product
Global, daily, vector averaged maps of NSCAT winds, derived from daily bins the Level 2 (50 km) wind vectors, on 0.5 degree by 0.5 degree grids. Winds are available only where there were observations. Reference height is 10m. A table describing this and other gridded products is at the top of this page.
- Deliverables:
Data: Daily gridded wind data
GIF images: Daily images of wind vectors and streamlines
Read Software: FORTRAN, C and IDL
Documentation: User's Manual, NSP guide - Where to Get the Data and Software:
Via anonymous FTP here or here - Contact:
PO.DAAC User's Services Office
Phone: 818-354-9890
Email: podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov - Reference:
- JPL, 1998: NSCAT Science Data Product User's Manual, Version 1.2, JPL D-12985, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.
Cheng, Chao, and Liu Global Gridded winds
Two-day average global wind fields produced by a Gaussian-weighted interpolation scheme using scatterometer winds, with ECMWF data as the initial fields. Spatial grid is one degree by one degree. Reference height is 10m. A table describing this and other gridded products is at the top of this page.
- Deliverables:
Data: Two-day averaged gridded wind data
Read Software: Fortran 77, IDL
Documentation: http://lochness.jpl.nasa.gov/nscatpaper.html - Where to Get the Data and Software:
Available here - Contact:
Benny Cheng
Phone: 818-354-0731
Email: bnc@pacific.jpl.nasa.gov - Reference:
- B. Cheng, Y. Chao, and W. Timothy Liu, A Comparison between the NSCAT Scatterometer and ECMWF winds and their Oceanic Response over the North Atlantic, submitted to GRL.
COAPS/FSU Monthly Averaged Stresses
Global, monthly-averaged, vector mean kinematic stresses determined directly from backscatter, on 0.5 degree by 0.5 degree grids. Data fields are kinematic stress components. These fields have been updated with the results of the NSCAT-2 model function (version 4.3 NSCAT winds from JPL). A table describing this and other gridded products is at the top of this page.
- Deliverables:
Data: Daily gridded surface stress data
Read Software: FORTRAN, C and IDL
Documentation: Detailed information about Data is available at /nscat/ - Where to Get the Data and Software:
Available here. Free read software for UNIX, Macs, and PCs is available from Unidata. Tools are available for converting NetCDF files to ASCII here. Additional information is available here. - Contact:
Mark A. Bourassa
Phone: 850-644-6923
Email: bourassa@coaps.fsu.edu - Reference:
- Verschell, M. A., M. A. Bourassa, D. E. Weissman, and J. J. O'Brien, 1998: Model Validation of the NASA Scatterometer Winds. J. Geophys. Res., in press.
COAPS/FSU Objectively Analyzed
Daily fields of pseudostress are produced using a variational approach (direct minimization) with tuning parameters objectively determined using Generalized Cross Validation (GCV). These products are on 1 degree x 1 degree grids. Data fields are pseudostress components. Reference height is 10m. A table describing this and other gridded products is at the top of this page.
- Deliverables:
Data: Daily gridded pseudo-stress data and images
Read Software: FORTRAN, C, IDL
Documentation: Detailed information about Data is available at coaps.fsu.edu/cgi-bin/nscat-gcv (Indian Ocean product) and at coaps.fsu.edu/cgi-bin/nscat/gcv_glob (Global Oceans product). Images available as well for any day: here. Where to Get the Data and Software:
COAPS NSCAT Gridded Data Download Area
Tools are available for converting NetCDF files to ASCII here. Free read software for UNIX, Macs, and PCs is available from Unidata. Additional information is available here - Contact:
Mark Bourassa
Phone: 850-644-6923
E-mail: bourassa@coaps.fsu.edu - Reference:
- Legler, D. M., M. A. Bourassa, A. D. Rao, and J. J. O'Brien, 1998: NSCAT Surface Wind Fields Using Optimally Tuned Direct Minimization Techniques. Papers from 9th Conference on Interaction of Sea and Atmosphere, Phoenix, AZ, American Meteorological Society, 32-35.
COAPS/FSU Temporal Averaged
Global, daily, centered, temporally weighted, vector mean values from successive 8-day periods using NSCAT winds only, on 1.0 degree by 1.0 degree grids. Data fields are wind components, scalar averaged wind speed, and pseudostress components. Reference height is 10m. These fields have been updated with the results of the NSCAT-2 model function (version 4.3 NSCAT winds from JPL). A table describing this and other gridded products is at the top of this page.
- Deliverables:
Data: Daily gridded wind data
MPEG Animations: Weekly movies of moving wind vectors, curl, and divergence
Read Software: FORTRAN, C and IDL
Documentation: Detailed information about Data is available here - Where to Get the Data and Software:
To get the 1.0 degree data, go to anonymous FTP here and download wt_L20.tar.gz or go here. The 0.5 degree data is available through here.Free read software for UNIX, Macs, and PCs is available from Unidata. Tools are available for converting NetCDF files to ASCII here. Additional information is available at UCAR.
- Contact:
Mark A. Bourassa
Phone: 850-644-6923
Email: bourassa@coaps.fsu.edu - References:
- Bourassa, M. A. , M.. H. Freilich, D. M. Legler, W. T. Liu, and J. J. O'Brien, 1997: Wind observations from new satellite and research vessels agree. EOS Trans. of Amer. Geophys. Union, 597 & 602.
- Bourassa, M. A., M. H. Freilich, D. M. Legler, W. T. Liu, and J. J. O'Brien, 1997 : Wind observations from new satellite and research vessels agree. EOS, 597-602.
- Bourassa, M. A., D. M. Legler, C. Miranda V, J. J. O'Brien, J. N. Stricherz, K. Verzone, and J. Whalley, 1997: COAPS NSCAT surface wind animations. Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2840, CD-ROM.
- Bourassa, M. A., D. M. Legler, J. J. O'Brien, J. N. Stricherz, and J. Whalley, 1998: High temporal and spatial resolution animations of winds observed with the NASA scatterometer, 14th International conference on IIPS, Phoenix, AZ, American Meteorological Society, 556-559.
- Bourassa, M. A., L. Zamudio, and J. J. O'Brien, 1988: Non-inertial flow in NSCAT observations of Tehuantepec winds. J. Geophys. Res., in press.
IFREMER/CERSAT Mean surface wind field from the ERS-AMI and ADEOS-NSCAT microwave scatterometers
Weekly and monthly global wind fields produced using NSCAT and AMI (ERS-1 and ERS-2) scatterometer winds, objectively interpolated using a minimum variance method. Spatial grid is 1 degree by 1 degree. Reference height is 10m. A table describing this and other gridded products is at the top of this page.
- Deliverables:
Data: Bi-weekly and bi-monthly wind data, wind stress, wind divergence, and wind stress cur
Read Software: ansi C
Documentation: Here - Where to Get the Data and Software:
Available here - Contact:
Department d'oceanographie Spatiale
IFREMER BP 70
FR 29280 PLOUZANE
FRANCE
Phone: 33-298-22-44-83
Email: fpaf@ifremer.fr
IFREMER Website - Reference:
- IFREMER/CERSAT, 1998: Mean Surface Wind Fields from the ERS-AMI and ADEOS-NSCAT Microwave Scatterometers, 91/08/05 to 98/03/01. A contribution to WOCE, a CD-ROM published for the WOCE conference, Halifax, Canada, May 1998.
Kelly, Caruso and Dickinson maps of Tropical Pacific pseudostress fields
Pseudostress maps were prepared by objectively averaging NSCAT data over the tropical Pacific Ocean. The daily maps are gridded to 1 degree, with resolutions of 5 days and 2 degrees. Reference height is 10m. A table describing this and other gridded products is at the top of this page.
- Deliverables:
Data: Daily gridded pseudostress maps (in monthly files) - Where to Get the Data:
Please contact suzanne@apl.washington.edu - Contact:
Suzanne Dickinson
Phone: 206-543-1380
Email: suzanne@apl.washington.edu - References:
- Kelly, K.A., S. Dickinson and Z.-J. Yu, NSCAT Tropical Wind Stress Maps: Implications for Improving Ocean Modeling, Accepted at JGR.
- Dickinson, S., S. Singh, K.A. Kelly, M. Spillane and M.J. McPhaden, 1998, Establishing a Mapping Methodology for NSCAT Winds, APL-UW Tech. Rept. #9801.
Kutsuwada (Tokai University) Daily weighted-mean gridded wind/wind-stress vectors
Daily averaged wind and wind-stress vectors derived from weighted mean method of the level 2 (50 km) wind vectors, on 1.0 degree by 1.0 degree grids. Reference height is 10m. A table describing this and other gridded products is at the top of this page.
- Deliverables:
Data: Daily gridded wind and wind-stress data (in monthly files)
Read Software: FORTRAN
Documentation: N/A - Where to Get the Data and Software:
Please contact Kunio Kutsuwada or Takahiro Kazama. - Contact:
Kunio Kutsuwada (Takahiro Kazama)
Phone: +81-543-34-0411 Ext. 3212
Fax: +81-543-36-1434
E-mail: kkutsu@scc.u-tokai.ac.jp or 8jogm003@scc.u-tokai.ac.jp - References:
- Kutsuwada, K., 1998: Impact of Wind/Wind-stress Field in the North Pacific constructed by ADEOS/NSCAT Data., J. Oceanogr., 54. (in press).
- Kutsuwada, K. and Y. Kuroda, 1998: Investigation of Surface Wind Variability in the Tropical Pacific Oceans using NSCAT and ERS-2 Data during 1997-1998 El Nino event, Proceedings of Quikscat Science meeting in Hawaii.
Milliff, Large, Morzel, Danabasoglu and Chin Blended NSCAT/ERS-2 and NCEP u, v data
Four times daily global wind fields produced using scatterometer winds, with NCEP data as the initial fields. Spatial grid is 0.5 degree by 0.5 degree. Reference height is 10m. A table describing this and other gridded products is at the top of this page.
- Deliverables:
Data: Four times daily blended NSCAT/ERS-2 wind vectors
Read Software: FORTRAN
Documentation: N/A - Where to Get the Data and Software:
Available here - Contact:
Jan Morzel
Phone: 303-497-1342
Email: morzel@cgd.ucar.edu - References:
- Milliff, R. F., W. G. Large, J. Morzel, G. Danabasoglu, and T. M. Chin, 1998: Ocean general circulation model sensitivity to forcing from scatterometer winds, submitted.
- Chin, T.M., R.F. Milliff, and W.G. Large, 1998: Basin scale, high-wavenumber sea surface wind fields from a multiresolution analysis of scatterometer data. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 15, 741-763.
Polito, Liu and Tang Correlation-based interpolated NSCAT winds
Daily global wind fields produced by a correlation-based scheme using scatterometer winds. Spatial grid is 0.5 degree by 0.5 degree. Reference height is 10m. A table describing this and other gridded products is at the top of this page.
- Deliverables:
Data: Daily gridded wind data, stress, divergence of stress, and Ekman pumping
Read Software: IDL
Documentation: N/A - Where to Get the Data and Software:
Please contact polito@pacific.jpl.nasa.gov - Contact:
Paulo Polito
Phone: 818-393-3839
Email: polito@pacific.jpl.nasa.gov - Reference:
- Paulo, P. S., W. T. Liu and W. Tang, 1997: Correlation-based interpolation of NSCAT wind data. NSCAT Science Working Team Meeting, Maui, Hawaii, Nov, 1997.
Tang and Liu Objectively Interpolated
Twice daily global wind fields produced by successive corrections using scatterometer winds, with NSCAT monthly averaged wind data as the initial fields. Spatial grid is 0.5 degree by 0.5 degree. The gridded products are wind components. Reference height is 10m. A table describing this and other gridded products is at the top of this page.
- Deliverables:
Data: Twice daily gridded wind data
Read Software: IDL
Documentation: N/A - Where to Get the Data and Software:
Please visit here - Contact:
Wenqing Tang
Phone: 818-354-8199
Email: wqt@seanet.jpl.nasa.gov - Reference:
- Tang, W. and W. T. Liu, 1996: Objective interpolation of scatterometer winds. JP L publication 96-19. 16pp.
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge the work of Carol Hsu in gathering much of the descriptive information about the gridded data sets.