ASCAT 12.5 km Level 2 Ocean Surface Wind Vector Data [(NASA/PO.DAAC)]


1.0  General Description

This data set contains operational near-real-time global Level 2 ocean surface wind vector
retrievals from the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) on the MetOp-A satellite at
12.5 km sampling resolution (note: the effective resolution is 25 km).  These data
were provided by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) Ocean and Sea 
Ice Scatterometer Application Facility (OSI SAF) and were retrieved from the NASA
Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center.  The data are in NetCDF
format.


2.0 Data Format Description


These data are in the Network Common Data Form (NetCDF) version 3 format.  For more 
information on NetCDF visit the NetCDF page and UNIDATA: 
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/

Each file represents a complete satellite orbit, beginning with the ascending node at
the equator and ending at the ascending node near the equator.

The NetCDF files have been GNU zipped (.gz) for compression.


3.0 File Naming Convention


ascat_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_metopa_ORBIT_SRV_T_SMPL_2100_CONT.l2.frmt

ascat    = the scientific instrument: Advanced Scatterometer
YYYYMMDD = the date (Year, Month, Day) of the first data in the file
HHMMSS   = the time (UTC Hour, Minute, Second) of the first data in the file
metopa   = the satellite name: MetOp-A
ORBIT    = the orbit number (00000-99999)
SRV	 = the service: 'eps' for global OSI SAF product
T	 = the processing type: 'o' for operational, 't' for test
SMPL	 = the WVC sampling: 250 is 25.0 km, 125 is 12.5 km
CONT	 = the product contents: 'ovw' for Ocean Vector Winds
l2	 = the processing level: l2 for Level 2
frmt	 = the file format: 'nc.gz' for GNU Zipped NetCDF


4.0 Data Processing Information


For details on the processing conducted on these data see the file:
ASCAT_Product_Manual.pdf included with your order.  This document was 
prepared by KNMI.  This data set is the Global OSI SAF 12.5-km wind 
product (OSI-103).


5.0 References


ASCAT Wind Product User Manual - http://www.knmi.nl/scatterometer/publications/pdf/ASCAT_Product_Manual.pdf