EARS ERS-2 product viewer

29-Oct-2009	The ERS-2 products have been processed with delays from 23 to 31 October due to a problem at the ESA ground segment facilities.
01-Sep-2009	AWDP version 1_0_18: no changes for ERS products.
05-Aug-2009	The ERS-2 scatterometer has been down from August 3, 23:30 UTC to August 4, 08:39 UTC and on August 4 from 12:43 UTC to 17:41 UTC.
30-Jul-2009	There have been problems with the overview images on the website which are solved now.
08-Jul-2009	Due to a local network switch problem at KNMI, wind products have been interrupted and delayed between 3:00 and 6:00 UTC.
21-Apr-2009	AWDP version 1_0_17: upgrades in BUFR encoding.
02-Apr-2009	Data were missing and delayed on 31 Mar and 1 Apr, due to an anomaly in the ground segment.
20-Nov-2008	AWDP version 1_0_15: change to neutral winds.
02-Jul-2008	Data were missing and delayed between 27 Jun and 1 Jul, due to an anomaly in the ground segment.
18-Mar-2008	AWDP version 1_0_13: updated ASCAT calibration, but no change in ERS product.
05-Feb-2008	No data was available between 05 Feb 02:00 and 19:00 UTC, due to a satellite anomaly.
12-Dec-2007	AWDP version 1_0l: ASCAT winds available on the GTS, but no change in ERS product.
18-Oct-2007	Wind processing was delayed for some time due to a power failure in the KNMI computing facilities.
10-Oct-2007	AWDP version 1_0k: updated ASCAT calibration, but no change in ERS product.
12-Jun-2007	No data was received between 11 Jun 22:39 and 12 Jun 12:15 UTC, due to an instrument anomaly.
23-May-2007	AWDP version 1_0i: ERS and ASCAT processing run on the same operational server now.
08-Feb-2007	AWDP version 1_0g: file naming convention changed.
13-Sep-2006	Monitoring information available in product viewer.
28-Jun-2006	No data was received on 27 June, between 03:05 and 21:00 UTC, due to a satellite anomaly.
12-Jun-2006	AWDP version 1_0e: several software improvements.
31-May-2006	User can choose to view either wind arrows or wind flags in the detail pictures.
04-May-2006	AWDP version 1_0d: several software improvements.
07-Apr-2006	Website displays new ERS-2 product in ASCAT BUFR format (AWDP version 1_0c, see ERS Product Manual).
20-Feb-2006	Website supports access to historic data of the last 5 days.
19-Dec-2005	ESDP version 1_0f made available for EARS project.
12-Jul-2004	PRESCAT version 1_0f: improvements in use of CMOD5 function.
23-Jun-2004	PRESCAT version 1_0e: improvements in use of Land/Sea and Ice mask of ECMWF.
14-Jun-2004	PRESCAT version 1_0d: use of CMOD5 instead of CMOD4 model function in inversion.
10-May-2004	PRESCAT version 1_0c: BUFR output files are made available on the KNMI FTP server.
21-Apr-2004	PRESCAT version 1_0b: BUFR output files use WMO data descriptor 021062 for 'RADAR BACK SCATTER' and not temporary value 021192 any more.
1-Mar-2004	First version of web viewer operational. PRESCAT version is 1_0.

Description

The EARS ERS Wind Product contains measurements of the wind direction and wind speed above the sea surface. The measurements are obtained through the processing of scatterometer data originating from the AMI instrument on ESA's ERS-2 satellite, as described in the ERS Scatterometer Product User Manual.

The regional product focusses on the northern Atlantic and Europe. Measurements above the Atlantic Ocean are very important for weather forecasting in Europe because meteorological observations there are very sparse, and the weather in Europe is often originating from this region.

The processing is done in near-real time. From the sensing time of the last measurement of a product, it takes approximately 1 hour 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.

Access to products

This wind product is available in the BUFR format that is also used for the ASCAT wind data. Hence, the same data ingestion systems can be used for ERS and ASCAT data.

The data are disseminated through the EUMETCast system; for access please contact EUMETSAT. The products are also available on a password protected FTP server. Contact the KNMI scatterometer team for access.

Note: All intellectual property rights of the 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.

Acknowledgements

This is a pre-operational and demo service for weather forecast purposes. It is built as a demonstration for the ASCAT instrument on board the MetOp satellite. The ERS data is copyright ESA and is provided via the agreement ESA has with Met. Offices for ERS data. This product is developed under the EUMETSAT Advanced Retransmission Service (EARS), a project by EUMETSAT and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI).

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