The NASA Scatterometer Climate Record Pathfinder (SCP) is a NASA sponsored project to develop scatterometer-based data time series to support climate studies of the Earth's cryosphere and biosphere. Originally developed to measure winds over the ocean from space, scatterometer data has proved to be very useful in a variety of studies including polar ice and tropical vegetation. Because the scatterometer radar signal can penetrate the surface, a scatterometer can observe subsurface/subcanopy climate-related features.

The launch of Seasat, carrying a Ku-band scatterometer (SASS), in 1978 provided a baseline against which studies of global change can be measured. Other missions have followed SASS, including the C-band European Space Agency (ESA) Earth Remote Sensing (ERS) -1 and -2 missions (1992+), the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) mission in 1996-97, SeaWinds on QuikSCAT (1999+), and SeaWinds on ADEOS-II/Midori2 (2003). With their rapid global coverage, day or night and all-weather operation, scatterometers offer a unique tool for long-term climate studies. The goal of the SCP is to provide scatterometer-based datasets to researchers involved in climate studies.

The SCP datasets are based on a time series of enhanced resolution images made from the scatterometer backscatter (sigma0) measurements using the Scatterometer Image Reconstruction (SIR) and SIR w/filtering algorithms. For the highest possible spatial resolution (as well as to ensure full coverage over the images) multiple orbit passes are combined. For SASS, NSCAT, and ERS, images of sigma0 at 40 deg incidence angle (A) in dB and the slope of sigma0 versus incidence angle (B) in dB/deg are made. For SeaWinds and QuikSCAT sigma0 images at the observation incidence angle are made. In addition to these images, a number of ancillary images and products are generated include sea ice extent maps and sea ice motion data sets. A number of derived products are provided. SCP images and data products are designed to support climate studies over land and ice.

Products can be selected using the navigation bar to the left. A summary of available products is available here.

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News Updates

14 Jun 2007 The QuikSCAT iceberg data base has been revised and updated through 2006. All positions are derived from slice images.

10 Mar 2007. QuikSCAT images from Version 2 L1B files are now being posted to the SCP web and ftp site. JPL switched to VERSION 2 L1B processing in mid 2006 (JD 189). Due to differences in the processing, the slice location, incidence angles, and calibration, the original VERSION 1 files are slightly different than the VERSION 2 L1B files. JPL is reprocesing the entire mission to VERSION 2. To avoid continuity problems between the two versions, SCP images computed from different L1B versions are kept in separate directories (qscat and qscatv2) on the ftp site. Eventually, as JPL provides reprocessed VERSION 2 L1B files and our available processing power permits, the entire QuikSCAT SCP data set will be converted to VERSION 2. Both versions will be retaind, at least for a while, but eventually the VERSION 1 images will be phased out. The file format naming scheme, etc. for SCP images made from VERSION 1 and VERSION 2 QuikSCAT files are identical and all utilities, land masks, etc. work the same on both versions.

15 Dec 2007. Experimental enhanced resolution AMSR-E radiometer images are now available for 2002-2006.

11 Nov 2006. New image products from the precipitation radar (PR) on the Tropical Rain Measurement Mission (TRMM) are available. These gridded images are produced for the same standard regions as the scatterometer and radiometer data.

22 June 2006. New image products of the polar region with improved temporal resolution based on local-time-of-day are available for QuikSCAT, SeaWinds, and Tandem mission data.

6 April 2006. The National Research Council has been developing a prioritized list of future U.S. Earth-observing satellite missions for research and operational applications over the next decade. The recommendations of this Decadal Survey will greatly influence the future plans of NASA and NOAA. Scatterometers are not faring well in the Survey's current draft recommendations. Since the lack of future satellite observations of the oceans would affect such a broad cross section of Earth science research, we believe that the most effective approach is to communicate our concerns in the form of a community letter to Richard Anthes and Berrien Moore, the co-chairs of the Survey. A draft community Letter can be found at http://cioss.coas.oregonstate.edu/CIOSS/letter.html. We urge you to read this letter and add your name to the list of signatories as this may help continue the long-term scatterometer climate record to the benefit of all.

22 Feb. 2006. QuikSCAT SCP data can now be used with Google Earth on Macs and PCs! A sample .kmz file is available at URL http://www.scp.byu.edu/qusv.kmz. Use the network link feature of Google Earth to point to this URL and download the 1 day QuikSCAT-Views-the-World visualization data. This prototype product has only limited resolution, but Google Earth makes viewing it fun.

Oct. 2005. A number of minor corrections to the BYU .SIR format map projections have been made. These affect only EASE grid Globe end EASE grid South map projections. New code in c, c++, f, f90, idl/pvwave, and matlab is available under the software link or on the SCP ftp site.

Oct. 2005. Sample Enhanced Resolution SSM/I images are now available for F13.

2004. The Scatterometer Climate Record Pathfinder Project announces a new Current Icebergs web page tracking the current position of large Antarctic icebergs based on Near-real-time QuikSCAT imagery.