Biweekly maps of wind stress for the North Pacific from the ERS-1 scatterometer, 1992-1995

Abstract

The ERS-1 scatterometer is the first operational satellite scatterometer in more than a decade. This report describes a technique developed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to process and analyze the data. Four years of data (January 1992-December 1995) was analyzed in the North Pacific ocean. Gridded 0.5° x 0.5° wind, wind stress and wind stress curl fields were generated for the North Pacific Ocean on times scale of one week to one month. This data set was compared with in-situ measurements from buoys and coastal weather stations and numerical models. The results show good agreement with models and in-situ measurements. Biweekly maps were chosen after examining error/temporal resolution tradeoff curve.