Products/Data - Global Winds/Global Shear
Output from the UW-CIMSS satellite wind algorithm is utilized in the development of a global gridded flight level wind product. This satellite wind algorithm utilizes visible and IR data from all operational geostationary satellites (GOES-12, GOES-10, GOES-09, Meteosat-7. Meteosat-5) to calculate wind vectors from approximately 60º S to 60º N latitude around the entire globe. The output of the satellite wind algorithm includes latitude/longitude, wind speed/direction, height (in hPa) of the wind, and a quality indicator ranging from 0 to 100.
The first step in the development of the flight level wind product is to interpolate the satellite derived winds to the aviation flight levels (9, 12, 15, 18, 24, 30, and 36 kft). Satellite winds with quality indicators greater than 50 are used in this product. A half-degree horizontal resolution GFS model analysis is utilized to perform the conversion from pressure to height for each wind observation. After the high-quality satellite winds are grouped into the aviation flight levels, we combine the satellite-derived wind field with a GFS model wind analysis (also interpolated to the aviation flight levels) using a successive correction objective analysis. This step is done to provide model wind coverage for grid points without satellite winds. The end result of this work is a global numerical model + satellite-derived wind field on a half-degree resolution grid at the 7 aviation flight levels. An example of this product is provided in the figure below. The mean wind shear between two flight levels is also calculated by differencing the winds from these levels.
This product will utilize the GFS initial wind analysis from the 00, 06, 12, and 18 Z model runs and will be available at approximately 0400, 1000, 1600, and 2200 UTC on the UW-CIMSS ftp server at:
ftp://ftp.ssec.wisc.edu/asap/products/global_winds/wind_analysis/ (global
wind analysis)
ftp://ftp.ssec.wisc.edu/asap/products/global_winds/wind_shear/ (global
wind shear)