Background
Observations of ocean surface winds are vital for marine navigation, predicting hurricanes and other oceanic storms, and science and modeling of the ocean-atmosphere interface. The Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG)-2022 assessment found that providing gridded, harmonized winds near the ocean surface would help support the needs of several agencies.
The Multisensor Worldwide Ocean Winds (MWOW) products will enable a new harmonized wind retrieval product suite combining wind retrievals from a variety of different satellite-based wind-observing instruments:
- scatterometers (Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT)-B/C, Scatterometer for Oceansat-3 (OCSAT-3))
- synthetic aperture radar (SAR) instruments (Sentinel-1, RADARSAT-2, NASA-Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4), Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), commercial SARs)
- passive microwave radiometers (Compact Ocean Wind Vector Radiometer (COWVR), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imagery (GMI), Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounders (SSMISs), Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR)-2/3) to generate gridded wind speed data every ~6 hours
Wind direction will be provided from available sensors (i.e. from scatterometers and polarimetric radiometers). This combined product suite will greatly increase the temporal resolution and spatial coverage of ocean surface wind as compared to the existing, instrument-specific data, and will provide harmonized analysis-ready data from a single source, with a common format and grid.
The development of wind stress and the spatial derivatives of the wind and the stress (curl and divergence, when wind direction is available) are being evaluated for a potential added-on element of the primary product suite. The new product suite will have two important characteristics:
- A better characterization of the uncertainty from the stand-alone, instrument-specific wind retrievals
- A unified set of wind speed estimates that harmonize the retrievals from the different instruments, providing an instrument-agnostic estimate of the wind-speed
A comprehensive, observations-only, product suite such as MWOW does not yet exist.
Status: In Development
This solution is currently in formulation. A version 0 product was released in late 2025 for stakeholder feedback. This feedback will inform upcoming versions.
Solution Characteristics
| Products | MWOW, Version 0 | MWOW, Version 1 | MWOW, Version 2 | MWOW, Version 3 | MWOW, Version 3S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Description | Example product for agency feedback (limited access) | Regridded data from sensors with existing wind products | Regridded/cross-calibrated data from sensor with existing wind products | Regridded/cross-calibrated data from sensor with existing wind products | Wind stress and wind derivative products |
| Platforms | ALOS-4, COWVR-on-International Space Station (ISS), Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F-17, DMSP F-18, Global Change Observation Mission for Water (GCOM-W), Global Observing SATellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle (GOSAT-GW), GPM Core, Meteorological Operational satellite (Metop)-B, Metop-C, NISAR, OCSAT-3, RADARSAT-2, Sentinel-1 A, Sentinel-1 B, Sentinel-1 C, SMAP, SWOT | ||||
| Input Sources | 2-3 scatterometers and 1 SAR | 3 scatterometers, 3 or more radiometers, 1 or more SARs | 3 scatterometers, 4 or more radiometers, 4 or more SARs | 3 scatterometers, 5 or more radiometers, 4 or more SARs | MWOW, Version 3 |
| Output Variables | Wind speed, wind direction, wind stress magnitude and direction, derivatives of wind velocity and wind stress | ||||
| Processing Level | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Temporal Coverage | January 2023 - August 2027 | January 2023 - August 2029 | January 2023 - May 2030 | January 2023 - May 2030 | January 2023 - May 2030 |
| Temporal Frequency | 6 hours | 6 hours | 6 hours | 6 hours | 6 hours |
| Latency | Complete product ~2 days | Quick product: ~6 hours Complete product: ~2 days | Quick product: ~6 hours Complete product: ~2 days | Quick product: ~6 hours Complete product: ~2 days | Quick product: ~6 hours Complete product: ~2 days |
| Spatial Coverage | Global | Global | Global | Global | Global |
| Spatial Resolution | 1/8 degree (14 km) for scatterometer/radiometer winds 1/64 degree (2 km) for SAR | 1/8 degree (14 km) for scatterometer/radiometer winds 1/64 degree (2 km) for SAR | 1/8 degree (14 km) for scatterometer/radiometer winds 1/64 degree (2 km) for SAR | 1/8 degree (14 km) for scatterometer/radiometer winds 1/64 degree (2 km) for SAR | 1/8 degree (14 km) for scatterometer/radiometer winds 1/64 degree (2 km) for SAR |
| Data Format | NetCDF | NetCDF | NetCDF | NetCDF | NetCDF |
Societal Impact
This solution will provide observations of near-surface winds over the data-sparse global oceans at roughly six-hour intervals, providing key inputs to atmospheric and oceanic general circulation models. Gridded wind data will contribute to the forecasting of hurricanes and other marine hazards.
Solution Resources
Need help using this solution? Visit the following resources to access and learn more about the MWOW, Version 0 products: