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Full catalog/RONGOWAI_L1_SDR_V1.0
RONGOWAI_L1_SDR_V1.0·v1.0·dataset

Reflected-GPS signals flown over New Zealand (Rongowai)

Rongowai-CYGNSS Airborne Level 1 Science Data Record Version 1.0
ocean NASA POCLOUD Level 1 netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. Calibrated measurements of GPS signals reflected off the surface, collected from an aircraft over New Zealand, including reflected power and how strongly the surface scattered the signal, plus quality flags and geometry details.

How it's made. A Level 1 product from a next-generation receiver flown aboard an Air New Zealand domestic aircraft as part of the Rongowai project, supported by NASA and the New Zealand Space Agency.

How & where you'd use it. An airborne version of reflected-GPS sensing used to study surface conditions like soil moisture, water, and land cover; mainly a detailed input for researchers building higher-level products.

What's measured

OCEANS › OCEAN WINDS › WIND VELOCITY/SPEED

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2022-10-20 → ongoing
  • Measured byAirplane (DDMI)
  • Processing levelLevel 1
  • Spatial extent165, -47, 179, -34
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • StatusACTIVE

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

The Rongowai Level 1 Science Data Record Version 1.0 dataset is generated by the University of Auckland (UoA) Rongowai Science Payloads Operations Centre in New Zealand. This initiative is supported by NASA and the New Zealand Space Agency. The data collection process is conducted using the Next-generation receiver (NgRx) mounted on the Air New Zealand domestic aircraft Q300. This Level 1 (L1) dataset contains the Version 1.0 geo-located Delay Doppler Maps (DDMs) calibrated into Power Received (Watts) and Bistatic Radar Cross Section (BRCS) expressed in units of meters squared from the Delay Doppler Mapping Instrument onboard an Air New Zealand domestic Q300 (tail number ZK-NFA). 20 DDMs are contained within a typical L1 netcdf corresponding to 10 Left-Hand-Circularly Polarized (LHCP) and 10 Right-Hand-Circularly Polarized (RHCP) channels. Other useful scientific and engineering measurement parameters include the co- and cross-polarized Normalized Bistatic Radar Cross Section (NBRCS) of the specular point, the Leading Edge Slope (LES) of the integrated delay waveform and the normalized waveforms. The L1 dataset contains a number of other engineering and science measurement parameters, including coherence detection and a coherence state metric, sets of quality flags/indicators, error estimates, Fresnel-zone geometry estimates (and thereby the estimated per-sample spatial resolution) as well as a variety of timekeeping, and geolocation parameters. Each netCDF data files corresponds to a single flight between airports within New Zealand (flight durations typically range between 45 min and 1hr 30min with a median of 7 flights/day) and measurements are reported at 1 second increments. Latency is approximately 1 days (or better) from the last recorded measurement time.

Get the data

rongowai_l1_sdr_v1.0_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="RONGOWAI_L1_SDR_V1.0",
    version="1.0",
    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.