Short Paper describing and justifying the oceanography and climate requirements for an OSVW constellation. The International Ocean Vector Winds Science Team (IOVWST) meeting held in 2016 strongly recommended: at least three scatterometers in orbits designed to roughly meet the WMO requirements; and one instrument in a non-sun- synchronous orbit to help with the diurnal cycle;better sampling at mid-latitudes;and to improve inter-calibration. This ?optimal constellation? will be revisited at the 2019 IOVWST meeting in May and will be endorsed as is or modified. A short report will then be delivered to CEOS by end 2019.
(Update from June 2015 SIT Chair TagUp) The International Ocean Vector Winds Science Team (IOVWST) meeting held in Portland, OR, USA, on 19-21 May discussed this topic. ?The meeting strongly recommended: (1) at least three scatterometers in orbits designed to roughly meet the WMO requirements, and, (2) one instrument in a non-sun-synchronous orbit to help with the diurnal cycle, better sampling at mid-latitudes, and to improve inter-calibration. These recommendations provide the basis for addressing the vision of an OSVW Constellation. ? It has been proposed that a User Requirements Document, analog to that developed some years ago for the OST-VC, should be elaborated. An interim report will be presented to CEOS, and a more in-depth analysis will be prepared for the OceanObs meeting to be held in Q3 2019.
Paper published in 2019: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00443