QuikSCAT near-real-time data processing and product generation at NOAA/NESDIS

The SeaWinds instrument on QuikSCAT provides continuous, all weather, scatterometer measurements in wide band swaths, covering 90% of the Earth's surface each day. The QuikSCAT NRT (near real time) processing system developed in collaboration between NOAA/NESDIS and JPL/NASA and AER, Inc. is designed to provide ocean near-surface wind products from the SeaWind scatterometer measurements, and to make them available to the user community, within three hours of data observation. A very useful by-product of the production system is the ability to use the real-time ice determination of the SeaWINDS system to produce daily global ICE products.

In this paper we describe the design, implementation and operations of the QuikSCAT NRT processing system at NOAA/NESDIS. Specifically, we will describe the process flow, including the communications network, processing hardware and software as well as the monitoring system used operationally at NOAA/NESDIS.