SeaWinds on QuikSCAT Level 1B Time-Ordered Earth-Located Sigma0 Version 2

The SeaWinds on QuikSCAT Level 1B dataset contains the geo-located Sigma-0 measurements and antenna pulse "egg" and "slice" geometries as derived from ephemeris and the Level 1A dataset. The pulse "egg" represents the complete footprint of the pulse, which has a spatial geometry of approximately 25 km by 35 km. There are 8 slices that constitute the range-binned components of a pulse each of which has a spatial geometry of approximately 25 km by 7 km. The orientation of the long dimension of the slices varies with the rotation of the antenna and thus does not align with the along/across track orientation of the wind vector grid in the L2B/L2A products. This dataset represents the second reprocessed version of the Level 1B release. Special note: QuikSCAT went into a "non-spinning" mode on 22 November 2009. The final rev number in the nominal Operational "spinning" mode is 54296; the "non-spinning" mode of the instrument continued predominantly until the end of the time series. There were some brief periods of "spinning" in between, which include the following days and rev numbers (identified in parenthesis): 1) 29 January 2013 to 5 February 2013 (7909-71011), 2) 14 March 2013 (71536-71549), 3) 18 March 2013 to 21 March 2013 (71590-71634), and 4) 28 March 2013 to 31 March 2013 (71735-71769). Data during the "non-spinning" mode is not consistently calibrated with data from the "spinning" mode. Furthermore, incidence angles change periodically during the "non-spinning" mode. It is therefore advised that only "expert" users attempt using the data during the "non-spinning" mode. For standard L1B data users who wish to access consistently calibrated L1B data during the "non-spinning" mode, please consider using the L1B Averaged Sigma-0 dataset as alternative, which may be accessed by contacting podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov