RapidScat Level 2A Surface Flagged Sigma-0 and Attenuations in 12.5km Swath Grid Version 2.0

Description

This dataset contains the Version 2.0 ISS-RapidScat on Level 2A 12.5 km science data record, which provides surface-flagged sigma-0 in 12.5 km Wind Vector Cells processed using the pulse "slice" Sigma-0 data provided by the Level 1B dataset. Due to the circular scan of the RapidScat instrument the expected number of Sigma-0 cells per WVC is not constant. To minimize the L2A data volume, the Sigma-0 cell data are stored as "lists" for each WVC row, with each list indexed by a "cell_index" array to indicate the cross-track WVC membership of the data. Each cell is then checked for land or ice and flagged accordingly. Attenuation corrections for each Sigma-0 measurement are also provided. Data are provided in single-orbit files in HDF-4 format. Version 2.0 represents a complete historical re-processing of the L2A data record (see the technical note for Version 2.0 under Documentation). 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. If you have any questions or concerns, please visit our Forum at https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/forum/.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
21 HTTPS endpoint for data browse and download https://cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov/virtual-directory/collections/C2633944131-POCLOUD
21 Detailed background information on the ISS-RapidScat mission published by the eoPortal. https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/i/iss-rapidscat
33 Summary of Facts on the ISS-RapidScat Mission https://d2pn8kiwq2w21t.cloudfront.net/documents/issrapidscat_factsheet.pdf
22 Thumbnail https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/Podaac/thumbnails/RSCAT_L2A_12KM_V1.3.jpg
21 Data Use and Citation Policy https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/CitingPODAAC
21 Browse granule search results in Earthdata Search https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/granules?p=C2633944131-POCLOUD
21 Technical note for Version 2.0 https://archive.podaac.earthdata.nasa.gov/podaac-ops-cumulus-docs/rapidscat/open/L2A/docs/v2.0_technical_note.txt
21 Search results for publications that cite this dataset by its DOI. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=10.5067%2FRSX12-L2A20
8 ASCII CSV orbital revolution time tables with quality assurance information. https://archive.podaac.earthdata.nasa.gov/podaac-ops-cumulus-docs/rapidscat/open/L2A/docs/revtime.csv
21 Text file containing reverse chronological list of future scheduled outages and past outages. A start/stop date/time and description is provided for each outage. This list is maintained by NOAA/NESDIS to service near-real-time data users. http://manati.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/rscat_images/monitor/RapidScat_Scheduled_Outages.txt

Tags

  • spectral-engineering
  • radar
  • earth-science

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