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Full catalog/rss1windnv7r01
rss1windnv7r01·v7R01·dataset

Monthly ocean surface wind averages (satellite blend)

RSS MONTHLY 1-DEG MERGED WIND CLIMATOLOGY NETCDF V7R01
atmosphere NASA GHRC_DAAC Level 3 netCDF-4netCDF-3
In plain English

What it measures. Long-term average wind speeds over the world's oceans, on a roughly 1-degree map grid, along with maps showing how recent winds differ from the average and how winds have trended over time.

How it's made. Built by blending ocean wind readings from many satellite microwave radiometers (SSM/I, SSMIS, AMSR-E, AMSR-2, WindSat), carefully calibrated together, covering 1988 to 2016.

How & where you'd use it. Provides a baseline picture of ocean winds for climate studies and for spotting unusual wind patterns or long-term changes.

What's measured

Atmosphere › Atmospheric Winds › Upper Level Winds › Wind SpeedAtmosphere › Atmospheric Winds › Upper Level Winds › Wind DirectionAtmosphere › Atmospheric Winds › Surface WindsOceans › Ocean Winds › Surface Winds

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1988-01-01 → ongoing
  • Measured byDMSP 5D-2/F10 (SSM/I) · DMSP 5D-2/F13 (SSM/I) · CORIOLIS (WINDSAT) · DMSP 5D-2/F11 (SSM/I) · Aqua (AMSR-E) · DMSP 5D-2/F8 (SSM/I) · DMSP 5D-3/F17 (SSMIS) · DMSP 5D-2/F15 (SSM/I) · GCOM-W1 (AMSR2) · DMSP 5D-2/F14 (SSM/I) · DMSP 5D-3/F16 (SSMIS)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsnetCDF-4, netCDF-3
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

The Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) Monthly 1-degree Merged Wind Climatology netCDF dataset V7R01 provides global gridded wind speed data over ocean areas. This dataset contains a 12-month climatology using January 1, 1988 to March 31, 2016 data, monthly anomaly maps, a trend map with associated global and tropical wind speed time series, and a time-latitude plot. The wind climatology dataset is a merged ocean product constructed using the version-7 (V7) passive microwave geophysical ocean products made publicly available by Remote Sensing Systems (www.remss.com). Ocean wind measurements used to create this dataset were acquired from the following satellite microwave radiometers: SSM/I F08 through F15, SSMIS F16 and F17, AMSR-E, AMSR-2, and WindSat. The radiometers used to construct this dataset were inter-calibrated at the brightness temperature level, while the V7 ocean products were produced using a consistent processing methodology across sensors.

Get the data

rss1windnv7r01_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="rss1windnv7r01",
    version="7R01",
    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 GHRC_DAAC
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.