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    • QuikSCAT Level 2B Ocean Wind Vectors in 12.5km Slice Composites Version 3.1

    Metadata Updated: March 12, 2026

    This dataset contains the latest reprocessed version 3.1 of the Level 2B science-quality ocean surface wind vector retrievals from the QuikSCAT scatterometer. The retrievals are provided on a non-uniform grid within the swath at 12.5 km pixel resolution. Higher 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. Version 3.1 processing begins with the same L1B (time-ordered backscatter) data as used in the previous Version 3.0 processing. Version 3.1 improves upon the previous Version 3.0 processing by incorporating enhanced coastal processing using a Land Contamination Ratio (LCR) method with a fixed threshold. The 12.5 km binning resolution combined with the LCR processing enables this dataset to provide wind vector retrievals with approximately half the coastal gap as compared to the Version 3.0 12.5 km L2B dataset. The geophysical model function used to produce the wind vector cell retrievals remains unchanged between Version 3.0 and 3.1. Each L2B file corresponds to a specific orbital revolution (rev) number, which begins at the southernmost point of the ascending orbit. This is the official dataset produced by the NASA QuikSCAT Project through the SeaWinds Processing and Analysis Center (SeaPAC). More details to the processing changes and improvements are to be published in the near future, but for now can be referenced by the following presentation: https://mdc.coaps.fsu.edu/scatterometry/meeting/docs/2016/Thu_AM/coastal-poster.pdf .

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: See this page for license information.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date March 12, 2026

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NASA Data.json

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date March 12, 2026
    Publisher NASA/JPL/PODAAC;NASA/JPL/QUIKSCAT
    Maintainer
    Identifier 10.5067/QSX12-L2B31
    Data Last Modified 2026-03-10
    Category Earth Science
    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 5e910db8-36a2-4d81-b52e-0bd85ceb8d8e
    Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
    Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
    License https://www.usa.gov/government-works
    Old Spatial "CARTESIAN",{"NorthBoundingCoordinate":90.0,"WestBoundingCoordinate":-180.0,"EastBoundingCoordinate":180.0,"SouthBoundingCoordinate":-90.0}
    Program Code 026:000
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash ee5badee2acfc22fe04448c526489e8eee8be32077e90c41cb1ae14ee9470457
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial
    Temporal 1999-10-27/2009-11-22

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