SWOT KaRIn Level-3 Wind Wave products

Types of dataset: SWOT Level 3 experimental products (SWOT L3_LR_WIND_WAVE)

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs):
Light SWOT L3_LR_WIND_WAVE: 10.24400/527896/a01-2024.016 -  more metadata
Extended SWOT L3_LR_WIND_WAVE: 10.24400/527896/a01-2024.017 -  more metadata

Contents: The SWOT KaRIn Level-3 Wind Wave product (L3_LR_WIND_WAVE) is an innovative product derived from the Unsmoothed L3_LR_SSH product (DOI 10.24400/527896/A01-2024.003) based on the algorithm presented in Ardhuin et al. 2024. It takes advantage of the KaRIn Low Rate (LR) chain's ability to resolve waves larger than about 500 meters in wavelength (about 18 s) and provides detailed information on the characteristics of these wave regimes, including significant wave height (SWH), dominant wavelength, and wave propagation direction. These regimes are typically associated with long-period swells and extreme events that play a critical role in ocean dynamics, coastal processes, and maritime operations.

Description: The SWOT L3_LR_WIND_WAVE product is organized in 2 subproducts:

  • Light L3_LR_WIND_WAVE (or lightweight), which includes the spectrum of KaRIn L3 250-m SSHA corrected from instrumental effects, expressed in both cartesian and polar coordinates, the swell partition of the spectrum and the wave parameters integrated over this partition for both WW3 model and KaRIn (significant wave height, wavelength and direction)
  • Extended L3_LR_WIND_WAVE, which includes the same variables as the light product below plus the WW3 spectrum in the same frequency grid as the KaRIn spectrum, the KaRIn transfer functions used for correction and some parameters derived from KaRIn observations (coherence, mean backscatter, etc.)

Use: Sea state characterization, extreme events, regional and coastal studies and short scales correlation with ocean variability

Condition of access:  SWOT L3_LR_WIND_WAVE is distributed by AVISO under standard AVISO+ license agreement.

Citation Light SWOT L3_LR_WIND_WAVE: "The SWOT L3_LR_WIND_WAVE product, derived from the SWOT L3_LR_SSH product, is produced and made freely available by AVISO, DUACS and LOPS teams as part of the DESMOS and VAGUES Science Team projects". 
AVISO/DUACS., 2025. SWOT Level-3 KaRIn Wind Wave (v2.0) [Data set]. CNES. https://doi.org/10.24400/527896/a01-2024.016

Citation Extended SWOT L3_LR_WIND_WAVE: "The Extended SWOT L3_LR_WIND_WAVE product, derived from the SWOT L3_LR_SSH product, is produced and made freely available by AVISO, DUACS and LOPS teams as part of the DESMOS and VAGUES Science Team projects". 
AVISO/DUACS., 2025. SWOT Level-3 KaRIn Wind Wave Extended (v2.0) [Data set]. CNES. https://doi.org/10.24400/527896/a01-2024.017  

Geographic coverage: global

Resources: 

  • SWOT L3_LR_WIND_WAVE User handbook
  • Ardhuin, F., Molero, B., Bohé, A., Nouguier, F., Collard, F., Houghton, I., et al.(2024). Phase‐resolved swells across ocean basins in SWOT altimetry data: Revealing centimeter‐scale wave heights including coastal reflection. Geophysical Research Letters, 51, e2024GL109658. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109658 

Tutorials:

Disclaimer about SWOT KaRIn Level 3 Wind Wave products:

March 2025:
Production and distribution of the Light and Extended SWOT L3_LR_WIND_WAVE version 2.0 products for the Science (cycle 2 - cycle 16) phase.

 

SWOT_L3_LR_WIND_WAVE product

Product files Version AVISO Distribution services Data period File size Handbook
SWOT_L3_LR_WIND_WAVE [‘Light’] v2.0 CNES AVISO FTP/SFTP access (with AVISO+ credentials):
  • ftp://ftp-access.aviso.altimetry.fr:21
  • ftp://ftp-access.aviso.altimetry.fr:2122
    • /swot_products/l3_karin/l3_lr_wind_wave
CNES AVISO THREDDS Data Server access (with AVISO+ credentials):
https://tds-odatis.aviso.altimetry.fr/thredds/catalog/L3/dataset-l3-swot-karin-wind-wave.html
C002/P001
2023/08/11

C016/P554
2024/06/17
<4MB SWOT_L3_LR_WIND_WAVE User Handbbok
SWOT_L3_LR_WIND_WAVE [‘Extended’]​ v2.0 <1GB