At KNMI the backscatter products coming from the HSCAT scatterometer instrument on board the HY-2B satellite are processed towards a 25 km product for the EUMETSAT OSI SAF. Details are described in the HY-2 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 1 to 10 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 available in BUFR and NetCDF format. The BUFR data are disseminated through the EUMETCast system; for access please contact EUMETSAT. The products are also available on a password protected FTP server (products of the last three days only). Contact the KNMI OSI SAF team for access. Historic data can be obtained through the EUMETSAT Data Centre.
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
09-Oct-2024
The HY-2B winds have been unavailable or delayed between 5 October and 9 October due to a ground segment anomaly.
15-Sep-2024
The HY-2B winds have been delayed between 12 September and 14 September due to a ground segment anomaly.
05-May-2024
The HY-2B winds have been unavailable or delayed between 1 May 12:00 and 5 May 12:00 UTC due to a ground segment anomaly.
22-Jan-2024
The HY-2B winds have been unavailable or delayed between 19 January 13:00 and 22 January 12:00 UTC due to a ground segment anomaly.
15-Jan-2024
The HY-2B winds have been unavailable or delayed between 11 January 0:00 and 15 January 9:00 UTC due to a ground segment anomaly.
28-Nov-2023
The HY-2B winds have been unavailable or delayed between 24 November 6:00 and 28 November 12:00 UTC due to a ground segment anomaly.
21-Nov-2023
The HY-2B winds have been unavailable or delayed between 17 November 0:00 and 21 November 0:00 UTC due to a ground segment anomaly.
07-Nov-2023
The HY-2B winds have been unavailable or delayed between 3 November 0:00 and 7 November 0:00 UTC due to a ground segment anomaly.
11-Oct-2023
The HY-2B winds have been unavailable or delayed between 9 October 9:00 and 10 October 22:00 UTC due to a ground segment anomaly.
11-Jul-2022
The HY-2B winds have been unavailable between 8 July 23:45 and 11 July 8:45 UTC sensing time due to an instrument anomaly.
24-May-2022
The HY-2B winds have been unavailable between 22 May 6:00 and 24 May 12:00 UTC due to a data link issue.
25-Apr-2022
The HY-2B winds have been unavailable between 23 April 22:30 and 25 April 8:30 UTC sensing time due to a satellite anomaly.
04-Apr-2022
The HY-2B winds have been unavailable or delayed between 2 April 0:00 and 4 April 6:00 UTC due to a data link issue.
04-Nov-2021
The HY-2B winds are available on EUMETCast.
21-Oct-2021
The HY-2B winds are now publicly available on the KNMI FTP server with operational status.
11-Oct-2021
The HY-2B winds have been unavailable between 2 October 9:00 and 8 October 11:00 UTC sensing time due to an instrument anomaly.
11-Feb-2021
Reduced the gap between successive orbit files for better coverage near the south pole. The MLE values in the products now represent the MLE of the MSS-selected wind solution rather than the MLE of the closest local minimum solution. This leads to somewhat higher reported MLE values but does not change the wind characteristics. PenWP version is 2_2_04.
09-Apr-2019
Use improved Geophysical Model Function NSCAT4DS and apply Sea Surface Temperature corrections to backscatter to reduce systematic wind speed and direction biases.
28-Jan-2019
Initial version of HY-2B winds made available to the users. PenWP version is 2_2_02.
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 HSCAT level 1B HDF products used for this product are made available by the Chinese National Satellite Ocean Application Service (NSOAS).
