Accuracy of 10 m winds from satellites and NWP products near land-sea boundaries

Abstract

Through a comprehensive analysis, reliability of 10 m wind speeds is presented near the land-sea boundaries over the global ocean. Winds from three numerical weather prediction (NWP) centers and two satellite-based products are analyzed. NWP products are 1.875° × 1.875° National Center Environmental Prediction reanalyses, 1.125° × 1.125° European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts 40-year Reanalysis (ERA-40), and 1.0° × 1.0° Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS) operational product. These are compared to much finer resolution (0.25° × 0.25°) satellite winds, Quick Scatterometer (QSCAT) and Special Sensor Microwave/Imager. Large biases (e.g., >3 m s-1) may exist in NWP products near the land-sea boundaries, because wind speeds from the uniformly gridded global fields are generally at a spatial scale too coarse to appropriately define the contrast between water and land grid points. This so-called land contamination of ocean-only winds varies, and typically depends on the extent of the land-sea mask. A creeping sea-fill methodology is introduced to reduce errors in winds. It is based on the elimination of land-corrupted NWP grid points and replacement by adjacent, purely over-ocean values. In comparison to winds from many moored buoys, the methodology diminishes RMS errors (from >4 m s-1 to <1 m s-1) for NOGAPS and ERA-40. The creeping sea-fill is not advised for NCEP winds which have low contrast between land and sea points, thereby resulting in little impact from the land contamination. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.