What's new

Version

This is the version 3.0 of the WOCE Global satellite mean wind fields product. Its size now takes up two CD-ROMs. Although it is now distributed within the full WOCE package on DVD media, the dataset was split within the DVD in two distinct subsets (corresponding to two separate directories on the DVD), to keep the possibility to store the complete dataset on CD-ROM media. The subsets are refered as sat_mwf1 (ERS-1 and ERS-2 wind fields) and sat_mwf2 (NSCAT and QuikSCAT wind fields).

New fomat

For the versin 2.0, the wind fields were provided as GIF files, which implied numerous problems : aliasing, precision loss, difficulties to handle the data,...All data have now been converted from the original full-precision ASCII files (process output files) to netCDF format. They fully comply the Cooperative Ocean/Atmosphere Research Data Service (COARDS) and WOCE requirements.

Reprocessing of ERS-1 and ERS-2 wind fields

Each ERS-1 and ERS-2 wind field was reprocessed, correcting :

• the mapping of the sea-ice and land masks
• the selection of the wind direction for low wind speed (lower than 3 m/s)

Additional data

Although the period covered by the WOCE experiment runs from January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1998, the satellite wind disks include additionnal wind fields generated from ERS-2 and QuikSCAT scatterometers.

1. The original ERS-2 dataset has been extended by 9 monthes since the last V.2 WOCE package. It now covers the complete ERS-2 era, until January 15, 2001, since ERS-2 scatterometer was switched off thenafter.

2. The dataset now includes also the mean wind fields generated from the NASA SeaWinds scatterometer, onboard QuikSCAT. The increased space resolution of this sensor and its better sampling pattern enable to produce 0.5°x0.5° daily, weekly and monthly averaged wind fields. For consistency reasons with ERS-1, ERS-2 and NSCAT, these satellite wind disks only contain the weekly and monthly QuikSCAT fields. Nevertheless, the QuikSCAT daily fields can be accessed on CERSAT web site (http://www.ifremer.fr/cersat) or directly on its FTP anonymous server (ftp.ifremer.fr/ifremer/cersat/products/gridded/mwf-quikscat/).

New browsing capabilities

Quicklook pictures of all wind fields (for each satellite and each parameter) can be browsed from any internet navigator using a newly designed Javascript tool. This browser provides an easier and better-looking access to the pictures than in previous version.