S-MODE Pre-Pilot Ocean Wave Slope from Visible-Band Polarimetry at the Air-Sea Interaction Tower Version 1

These wave slope data from polarimetry described below are considered preliminary and should not be used for any purpose without consulting Chris Zappa (zappa@ldeo.columbia.edu).

This data set includes tower-based measurements of ocean wave slope fields from visible-band polarimetry using a Polaris Pyxis Mono VIS polarimetric camera. The data here include wave slope fields at 30 frames per second temporal resolution and mm-scale spatial resolution over a ~2 m x 2 m area of ocean surface observed off the Air-Sea Interaction Tower (ASIT; 41°20.1950'N, 70°33.3865'W). Measurements were taken over the period from October 2019 through January 2020. Surface slopes are along two dimensions: along-look and cross-look orientations of the camera. Data was acquired for 10 minutes per hour, 8 hours per day, and each data file (netCDF-4) captures one of the 10-minute segments. Note that data files are large, 142 GB each.

Data were collected as part of a pre-pilot campaign for the S-MODE (Submesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment) project. The polarimetric slope sensing (PSS) technique of Zappa et al. [2008] allows one to reconstruct the water surface slope field by measuring the polarization state of reflected light at each image pixel, allowing for surface resolutions of order 1 mm with no in-water measurement component. From these data one is able to compute water surface slope variance, wave directional spreading, and the near-surface current profile.