Ocean surface vector wind observations

Abstract

Ocean surface vector winds (OSVW) play a fundamental role in the Asian Seas through air-sea interaction; this applies to the modest winds in the trades, the winds associated with the extensive areas of tropical convection, sea and land breezes and, of most direct human relevance, the winds associated with hurricane-force typhoons. Predicting the air-sea exchanges in the cold polar seas and the atmospheric dynamics of tropical mesoscale convective systems or the strength and track of typhoons remains equally a challenge, but is of fundamental importance for weather forecasting and climate change studies. It is briefly described how wind vector information is obtained from satellite microwave active and passive measurements off the wind-roughened ocean surface, and subsequently an evaluation of the wind vector product services, for example, in coastal areas, is provided. India, China, Russia and Japan, inter alia, have been, are, or will be contributing to a global virtual constellation of scatterometers that provide increasing temporal coverage of ocean surface vector wind information. The application of scatterometer winds for weather nowcasting, for mesoscale and global numerical weather prediction and for oceanography and climate studies is highlighted.