NWCSAF/High resolution winds AMV software version 2018

Abstract

The “High Resolution Winds product (HRW)”, developed inside the “Satellite Application Facility on support to Nowcasting and very short range forecasting (NWCSAF)” standalone NWC/GEO software package, provides a detailed calculation of Atmospheric Motion Vectors and Trajectories locally and in real time by its users. Last operational version was released to users in November 2016 inside NWC/GEO v2016 software package. A new version of “High Resolution Winds product (HRW)”, is now being prepared and expected for release in the autumn 2018 inside NWC/GEO v2018 software package. Its main new features include: the calculation of AMVs and Trajectories with Himawari-8/9 satellite series, the auto-validation of the calculated AMVs during the running of the product against NWP forecast or analysis winds, the option to calculate larger densities of AMVs at low levels, and the option to mix several time frames for the AMV calculation (considering short time frames for the tracer tracking and large time frames for the displacement calculation). The common Quality Index and the new BUFR format for the AMV output files, such as defined by the International Winds Working Group, are also included for homogenization with other AMV products. A parallelization process is also to be included, to ease the processing of the product in larger regions.