RapidScat wind validation report version 1.1

The OSI SAF delivers level 2 wind products with 25 and 50 km Wind Vector Cell (WVC) spacing in near-real time, based on the RapidScat scatterometer level 2a products, kindly provided by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

In this report, we assess the quality of the OSI SAF wind products. We compare the scatterometer wind data with ECMWF model data in section 2 and with in situ wind data from moored buoys in section 3. A triple collocation exercise is done as well and presented in section 4. Section 5 summarises the main conclusions.

The results presented in this report are encouraging and warrant the release of the 25 and 50 km wind products.