Application of Seasat Scatterometer Wind Measurements for Operational Short-Range Weather Forecasting

Abstract

The availability of the Seasat Scatterometer provided the first opportunity to study the impact of adding satellite-derived surface wind data to short-range regional analyses and forecasts. Six cases on the west coast of Canada and the United States were used for this study. Surface analyses done operationally by the Pacific Weather Centre using conventional data were reanalyzed using Seasat Scatterometer wind data. In all of the six cases there were significant improvements in the surface analyses. Wind forecasts demonstrated significant improvement only when the scatterometer observations were in the forecast areas. Important meteorological features, including high and low pressure centers, ridges, troughs, shear zones and cols, were more clearly and accurately defined.