Sea-surface winds in the Iceland-Faeroe area, as derived from the ERS-1 scatterometer

Abstract

This report presents measurements of surface meteorological data taken during three cruises of R/V Alliance to the Iceland-Faeroe frontal area during August 1991 (NORDIC'91), March 1992 (NORDIC'92a) and October 1992 (NORDIC'92b). Wind velocity and direction, as measured at three

different locations on the ship, are compared with wind information retrieved from the scatterometer of

the European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1). As coincident in situ and satellite measurements are

relatively rare, analysed winds from the UK Meteorological Office are also used for comparison. For

the satellite data, different retrieval algorithms are applied. Beside the wind vector, its horizontal derivatives (e.g. horizontal divergence and curl) are also investigated.