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Full catalog/CYGNSS_L2_SURFACE_FLUX_CDR_V1.2
CYGNSS_L2_SURFACE_FLUX_CDR_V1.2·v1.2·dataset

Heat moving between ocean and air, long record (CYGNSS)

CYGNSS Level 2 Ocean Surface Heat Flux Climate Data Record Version 1.2
ocean NASA POCLOUD Level 2 netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. How much heat and moisture move between the ocean surface and the air above it, mapped across roughly 25 km patches, as part of a consistent long-term record.

How it's made. Derived from CYGNSS satellite ocean-wind measurements combined with weather-reanalysis data (ERA5) using a standard ocean-atmosphere exchange formula (COARE 3.5).

How & where you'd use it. Studying how the ocean warms or cools the atmosphere, fueling storms and shaping climate, especially over tropical seas; useful for long-term climate analysis.

What's measured

OCEANS › OCEAN HEAT BUDGET › HEAT FLUX › OCEAN SURFACE LATENT AND SENSIBLE HEAT FLUXESOCEANS › OCEAN TEMPERATURE › SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2018-08-01 → ongoing
  • Measured byCYGNSS (DDMI)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -38, 180, 38
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Watch sea-surface temperature and marine heatwaves
  • Spot algal blooms and ocean-colour shifts
  • Support fisheries and coastal monitoring
Official description

This dataset contains the third release, Version 1.2, of the CYGNSS Level 2 Ocean Surface Heat Flux Climate Data Record (CDR), which provides the time-tagged and geolocated ocean surface heat flux parameters with 25x25 kilometer footprint resolution with 6-7 day latency from the Delay Doppler Mapping Instrument (DDMI) aboard the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) constellation. CYGNSS is a NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder Mission designed to collect the first frequent space-based measurements of surface wind speeds in the inner core of tropical cyclones. The Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) version 3.5 algorithm combines CYGNSS L2 CDR v1.2 ocean surface wind speed estimates with the auxiliary parameters provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis Version 5 (ERA5) to produce latent and sensible heat fluxes and their respective transfer coefficients. More information on how the data is produced and validated can be found in the dataset user guide (see Documentation tab). More information on the CYGNSS mission, spacecraft, instrumentation and related datasets is available here: https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/CYGNSS . Additional information on the CYGNSS L2 CDR v1.2 wind speed dataset is available here: https://doi.org/10.5067/CYGNS-L2C12 .

Get the data

cygnss_l2_surface_flux_cdr_v1.2_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="CYGNSS_L2_SURFACE_FLUX_CDR_V1.2",
    version="1.2",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from POCLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.