At KNMI the backscatter products coming from the RFSCAT scatterometer instrument on board the CFOSAT satellite are processed towards a 25 km product for the EUMETSAT OSI SAF. Details are described in the CFOSAT Wind Product User Manual.
The processing is done in near-real time. From the sensing time of the end of an input file, it takes approximately 2.5 hours to get the corresponding wind product ready at KNMI.
The last 22 hours of data are shown in two separate plots showing ascending and descending tracks, respectively. This is done to avoid overlap of data in the pictures. Note that also data from previous days can be displayed using the link on the right hand side. The overview plots show color coded wind speed measurements. If you click somewhere in the satellite track, a picture appears showing the scatterometer winds in more detail.
Product monitoring information in near-real time is available through the corresponding link on the right hand side.
Note: This web site is not supported on a 24x7 basis and it should not be considered operational.
Access to products
This wind product is planned to be made available in BUFR and NetCDF format. Contact the KNMI OSI SAF team for more information. Note that following an agreement between CNES/CNSA and EUMETSAT the distribution is limited to the National Meteorological Services of EUMETSATs Member States and to ECMWF.
SCAT data products have been processed by KNMI, on behalf of EUMETSAT, with permission by CNSA, and are made available to users exclusively for scientific purposes, and excluding any commercial use or activity.
For a swift response management procedure, user requests on this scatterometer wind data product should be issued at the Ocean and Sea Ice SAF website.
Note: All intellectual property rights of the OSI SAF and EARS products belong to EUMETSAT. The use of these products is granted to every interested user, free of charge. If you wish to use these products, EUMETSAT's copyright credit must be shown by displaying the words "copyright (year) EUMETSAT" on each of the products used.
Modifications/anomalies
07-Sep-2022
Due to an instrument anomaly the CFOSAT winds are unavailable since 7 September 2022.
Due to instrument instabilities and drifts the CFOSAT winds are unfortunately not reliable. Wind speed biases vary over time and are sometimes close to 1 m/s. The issues are under investigation.
07-Aug-2022
Due to an instrument anomaly the CFOSAT winds were not available between 7 and 25 August 2022.
25-May-2021
Changed backscatter calibrations to the new input data characteristics. CWDP version is 1_0_05 now.
07-May-2021
Level 1 input data processing upgraded to version 3.2.
09-Sep-2020
Changed backscatter calibrations to the changed instrument characteristics after 23 August.
26-Jun-2020
New version of CWDP (1_0_04) to process level 1b v3.0 input data with the right calibrations.
16-Jan-2020
An instrument anomaly occured on 20 December 2019. The instrument was restarted using redundant hardware on 29 December. Since the restart the calibration has changed and the backscatter levels are changing. Hence the winds do not have the right calibration. CNSA is working on the problem.
12-Dec-2019
Improved the assignment of L1B slices to WVCs, to reduce the overlapping of slices between neighbouring WVCs. CWDP version is 1_0_03.
18-Nov-2019
Adapted backscatter calibration to latest version of input data. Implemented first version of Bayasian ice screening. CWDP version is 1_0_02.
05-Nov-2019
Initial version of CFOSAT winds made available for viewing. CWDP version is 1_0_01.
Acknowledgements
KNMI hosts the operational deployment of this scatterometer wind product as part of the EUMETSAT Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (OSI SAF), see related link or click on the OSI SAF logo above for more information.
The processing software for the wind products is developed in the EUMETSAT Numerical Weather Prediction Satellite Application Facility (NWP SAF) and OSI SAF.
The CFOSAT level 1B products used for this product are made available by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES).
