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Abstract
SARAL/AltiKa surface wind speed (WS) and significant wave height (SWH) measurements are monitored and validated against operational European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) atmospheric and wave model results in addition to available in-situ observations to access their suitability for various applications, especially SWH data assimilation. The quality of SWH is very high while that of WS is very good except for an underestimation of high wind speeds. The impact of assimilating SWH in the ECMWF Integrated Forecast System was assessed using several numerical experiments. The results show positive impact. Operational assimilation of SWH at ECMWF model is part of the forthcoming model change.
Acknowledgements
The SARAL/AltiKa data were made available by Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and as part of the Announcement of Opportunity DSP/OT/09-27509. Other altimeter and in-situ data made available by various data providers around the world including, but not limited to, the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Jean-Raymond Bidlot helped with the model forecast verification against in-situ data. The constructive comments of the two anonymous reviewers are appreciated.