MetOp-C ASCAT Coastal Ocean Surface Wind Vectors at 12.5 km Resolution

Operational near-real-time Level 2 coastal ocean surface wind vector retrievals from the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) on the MetOp-C satellite. The dataset is produced by EUMETSAT's Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (OSI SAF) via KNMI, with a latency of approximately 2 hours from measurement. It uses a spatial box filter on Level 1B Sigma-0 retrievals to compute winds as close as ~15 km from the coast.

Use Cases

• Model coastal wind conditions based on near-real-time satellite retrievals.
• Analyze ocean surface wind vectors optimized for coastal proximity.
• Validate numerical weather prediction models using operational wind data.
• Study wind patterns in coastal regions using the 12.5 km sampling resolution data.

Strengths

• Latency is approximately 2 hours from the latest measurement.
• Winds can be computed as close as ~15 km from the coast.
• Utilizes a spatial box filter averaging all full resolution Sigma-0 retrievals within a 15 km radius.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The effective resolution is 25 km despite a 12.5 km sampling resolution.

Provenance

Source

European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (OSI SAF) provided through the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI).

Collection Method

Derived from the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) on the MetOp-C satellite, using a spatial box filter on Level 1B Sigma-0 retrievals and the CMOD7.n geophysical model function.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:46:47.069849; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coastal ocean regions.