BYU Daily Browse Images of QuikSCAT Sigma-0 Measurements

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The SeaWinds on QuikSCAT scatterometer provides normalized radar cross section (sigma-0) measurements of the Earth's surface. While originally designed for wind observation, scatterometers have proven useful in a variety of land and ice studies. To aid in the selection of regions and time periods for study, Brigham Young University (BYU) has produced this global sigma-0 browse product. This product consists of spatial and temporal averages of QuikSCAT Level 1B sigma-0 values over one-day periods from 19 July 1999 to the present.

This data set consists of sigma-0 browse images for the entire globe, the northern hemisphere, and the southern hemisphere. The global images are rectangular latitude/longitude grids covering the entire globe with a resolution of 5 pixels/deg, or about 22.5 km/pixel at the equator. It suits mid-latitude regions but distorts polar regions. Hence, separate hemispheric products are created for high-latitude regions. Those images are polar stereographic projections using a 70 degree reference latitude with a nominal grid size of about 22.5 km. The polar views include only measurements above a high latitude cutoff of 52 degrees. These data are available via FTP, on CD-R and on 8 mm tape.

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Data Citation

Early, D.S., and D.G. Long. 2001. Image reconstruction and enhanced resolution imaging from irregular samples. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 39(2): 291-302.

Long, D.G., M.R. Drinkwater, B. Holt, S. Saatchi, and C. Bertoia. 2001. Global ice and land climate studies using scatterometer image data. EOS, Transaction of the American Geophysical Union 82(43): 503. Includes electronic supplement: http://www.agu.org/eos_elec/010126e.html.

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