1. Ocean Vector Wind Experience Joe Sienkiewicz NOAA Ocean Prediction Center

2. NOAA Ocean Prediction Center – impact on operations QuikSCAT wide swath 2 passes per day consistency wind range Cultural change revolutionized warning, analysis and forecast processes focus on Hurricane Force conditions Success – timely availability in forecaster workstations

3. Hurricane Force Extratropical Cyclone Intense, non-tropical cyclones with hurricane force winds Feb 09, 2007, North Atlantic kts

4. Hurricane Force Extratropical Cyclones Observed QuikSCAT Launch Jun 99 Hurricane Force Wind Warning Initiated Dec 2000 QuikSCAT winds Operational in N-AWIPS Workstations Oct 01 12.5 km QuikSCAT Available May 04 Improved wind algorithm, rain impact flag available Oct 06 Atlantic -194 Pacific - 177 371 HF Cyclones

5. QuikSCAT and Tropical Cyclones at NHC – Estimating intensity, especially for tropical depressions and tropical storms, but cannot be used for major hurricanes – Detection/tracking of TC centers for analysis and model initialization – Improved gale and storm force wind radii analysis in TCs  affects watch/warning areas 34-kt wind radii from QuikSCAT Accurate 34-kt wind radii critical for timing and placement of coastal watches and warnings

6. Gap Winds – Gulf of Tehuantepec Eight-year QuikSCAT-based climatology finds average of 12.4 gale-force events and 5.5 storm-force events per season 10-m wind guidance from operational NWP guidance currently available to TAFB forecasters has little skill in predicting storm-force Tehuantepec events Composite results suggest there may be identifiable synoptic-scale signals to help forecasters differentiate between storm-force and gale- force Tehuantepec events 12.5-km retrievals available 

7. Diagnostic of NWP initial conditions GFS – 3 hour forecast of wind speed12.5 km QuikSCAT Maximum Wind speed 20 knotsMaximum Wind speed 40 knots A GALE warning was issued. kts

8. Magnitude of SST gradient GOES SST composite Winds near SST gradients

9. GFS wind speed bias for marginally stable PBL

10. OSVW Measurements Benefit - mainly to offices with large areas of ocean responsibility Limitations to date – coastal waters, rain, resolution, and retrievals in high winds

11. The History….and the Future?!

12. ERS-2 Existing, Planned & Proposed OVW Missions AMI/ERS-2 Seawinds/QuikSCAT WINDSAT 97989900010203040506070809101112131415 In orbitApproved Planned / Pending Approval SeaWINDS/ADEOS-II 1000 km 500 km – failure of on-board recording 1800 km ASCAT/METOP – 3-satellite series 2 x 550 km w/ 720-km nadir gap HY-2 – 3-satellite series OceanSat-2 scatterometer Q’SCAT Follow-on Timely data access / quality? MIS C-2