# RSS SMAP L3 Sea Surface Salinity 8-Day Running Mean
*data products*

## Specifications
- **level**: L3
- **distributor**: nasa-jpl
- **access endpoint**: https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/SMAP_RSS_L3_SSS_SMI_8DAY-RUNNINGMEAN_V6
- **access model**: open
- **primary data portal url**: https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/SMAP_RSS_L3_SSS_SMI_8DAY-RUNNINGMEAN_V6
- **use cases**: ["SMAP sea surface salinity","8-day mapped salinity","Ocean freshwater monitoring"]
- **deployment context**: orbital
- **entity type**: data_product
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-11
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: nasa-jpl
- **attributes**: {"level":"L3","distributor":"nasa-jpl","access_endpoint":"https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/SMAP_RSS_L3_SSS_SMI_8DAY-RUNNINGMEAN_V6","access_model":"open","primary_data_portal_url":"https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/SMAP_RSS_L3_SSS_SMI_8DAY-RUNNINGMEAN_V6","use_cases":"[\"SMAP sea surface salinity\",\"8-day mapped salinity\",\"Ocean freshwater monitoring\"]","deployment_context":"orbital"}
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
RSS SMAP Level-3 Sea Surface Salinity Standard Mapped Image 8-Day Running Mean V6.0 (product ID SMAP_RSS_L3_SSS_SMI_8DAY-RUNNINGMEAN_V6, DOI 10.5067/SMP60-3SPCS) provides daily-updated global sea surface salinity composites from the SMAP Radiometer (L-band 1.41 GHz) on the SMAP mission, covering 2015-04-01 to present.[^earthdata-smap-rss-v6][^podaac-smap-rss-v6-doi] Each file is an 8-day running mean advancing one day at a time, with approximately 7-day latency after the end of the averaging window. The product is mapped to a 0.25-degree equal-angle grid, with an effective spatial resolution of approximately 70 km after smoothing; an experimental 40 km version (sss_smap_40km) is included as a supplemental variable.[^earthdata-smap-rss-v6][^remss-smap-sss] Key variables include sss_smap (sea surface salinity in psu), sss_ref (HYCOM reference model salinity), ancillary wind speed, SSS uncertainty, and rain rate. The retrieval algorithm is RSS V6.0, released and validated in March 2024, using HYCOM SSS as a first-guess field and rain filtering.[^remss-smap-sss] The product is produced by Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) and distributed open access by NASA PO.DAAC in netCDF-4 (CF/ACDD) format.

## Compositional position
- RSS SMAP L3 Sea Surface Salinity 8-Day Running Mean --[related]--> smap (missions)
- RSS SMAP L3 Sea Surface Salinity 8-Day Running Mean --[related]--> smap-radiometer (products)
- ocean-salinity (topics) --[topic_capabilities]--> RSS SMAP L3 Sea Surface Salinity 8-Day Running Mean

## Sources
- [earthdata-smap-rss-v6] | RSS SMAP L3 SSS SMI 8-Day Running Mean V6.0, NASA Earthdata | https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/data/catalog/pocloud-smap-rss-l3-sss-smi-8day-runningmean-v6-6.0 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-11
- [remss-smap-sss] | SMAP Sea Surface Salinity, Remote Sensing Systems | https://www.remss.com/missions/smap/salinity/ | tier=operator-engineering | accessed=2026-06-11
- [podaac-smap-rss-v6-doi] | RSS SMAP L3 SSS 8-day running mean V6, PO.DAAC | https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/SMAP_RSS_L3_SSS_SMI_8DAY-RUNNINGMEAN_V6 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-11

---
Source: https://eo-atlas.org/data_products/smap-rss-l3-sea-surface-salinity-8day
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)