The SEASTAR Primary Products are the Total Surface Current Vectors (TSCV) and Ocean Surface Vector Winds (OSVW).

The Level-2 TSCV and OSVW products are provided at the critical resolution of 1km or finer over one continuous swath 100–15-km wide. ‘Total’ surface current vectors signify that SEASTAR measures all surface velocities that contribute to horizontal water mass transport (e.g., tides, inertial oscillations, wind…) after correcting for wind-wave bias. Unlike satellite altimeters, SEASTAR will provide direct observations of tidal currents.

SEASTAR’s innovative two-dimensional imaging of current and wind vector fields brings the possibility of calculating higher order ocean parameters like divergence, vorticity and strain. These are key parameters to support the understanding of small-scale ocean surface dynamics and improve their representation in forecasting and climate models. The scientific objectives of SEASTAR drive a well-evidenced need for high accuracy at 1-km resolution that should be no worse than 0.1ms−1 for TSCV and 1ms−1 wind vector accuracy across the swath, in line with scientific and WMO requirements.

Supporting TSCV and OSVW are Level-2 Directional Ocean Swell Spectra (DOSS) products similar to Sentinel-1 Ocean Swell Spectra.

Additional Secondary Products of the mission (but not mission drivers) include:

  • Sea Ice Drift Vectors (SIDV) that build on Sentinel-1 to measure instantaneous sea ice drift vector components in two line-of-sights.
  • Experimental Full Directional Wave Spectra (FDWS) to better resolve short waves using data in three line-of-sights.
  • Estuarine River Flow (ERF) over large estuaries.

SIDV, FDWS and ERF are not mission drivers.