Ocean surface wind vector components and wind stress curl data products are derived from spatial blending of high-resolution satellite data (NASA Scattometer - NSCAT) and global weather center reanalyses (NCEP), resulting in high temporal and spatial resolution datasets (6hourly, and 0.5 degree). This global dataset spans 12 months, August 1996 through July 1997.

The NSCAT scatterometer data is oriented along polar-orbit satellite swaths. The double-sided instrument yielded two swaths. Each of them about 600-km wide with a 350-km nadir gap and at 50-km resolution. The NCEP data consists of global, 6-hourly reanalysis fields on T62 Gaussian grid with approximate resolution of 1.8 degrees.