Surface winds in the Southern Oceans from global analyses and satellite retrievals

Surface winds are the most important quantity in air-sea interaction. In situ observations, however, are sparse in the open oceans. Parameterizations of the atmospheric boundary layer, on the othe hand, are known to be inadequate. The degree to which surface winds in global model analyses can be treated as observations, therefore, is a critical issue to the study of air-sea interaction. In this study, surface winds from global model (re)analyses (NCEP, ECMWF) and satellite retrievals (ERS, SSM/I) are compared with an emphasis on large-scale features in the world's Southern Oceans.