Preliminary assessment and use of ERS-1 altimeter wave data

Abstract

During the calibration period, significant wave height and wind speed simulations from wave models at several national weather forecasting centers were used to assess the accuracy of the altimeter observations. This provided a rapid check on observation quality and assisted in validating the instrument. Comparison with altimeter data showed the U.K. Meteorological Office (UKMO) wave forecast system to be lacking in swell. Verification figures comparing the UKMO wave model to ERS-1 data were similar to those comparing the model against moored buoy data. -from Authors