SeaWinds wind Climate Data Record validation report version 1.3

This report contains validation information about the QuikSCAT/SeaWinds wind Climate Data Record (CDR), produced in the OSI SAF. The complete SeaWinds level 2a data record, spanning the period of 19 July 1999 to 22 November 2009 was obtained from the Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/). The data have been processed using the SeaWinds Data Processor (SDP) software version 2.2, as available in the Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) SAF. More information about the processing and the products can be obtained from the Product User Manual.

The quality and stability of the SeaWinds wind CDR has been assessed by looking both at backscatter and wind data. Section 2 describes the checks on the backscatter stability over time. Section 3 assesses the Quality Control applied in the products. In section 4, the winds are compared with NWP model data and with wind data from in situ buoys. Section 5 describes triple collocation experiments to assess the quality of winds from scatterometer, NWP model and buoys separately. Section 6 summarises the main conclusions.