Software for Global Forecasting of Winds and Waves

The WorldWinds®software system generates high-resolution global weather forecasts, with emphasis on wind and ocean-wave vectors, in nearly real time. WorldWinds™ was developed primarily to serve organizations and individuals needing accurate forecasts for scientific, safety, or economic reasons. WorldWinds™ accepts input data from multiple satellite sources: the TOPEX altimeter, the ERS-2 scatterometer, the QuikScat scatterometer, and the SSM/I microwave radiometer. The software takes those parts of the data that pertain to wind, wave, and other weather observations, combines them with observational data from National Weather Service, and feeds them into two numerical models of weather: the Penn State MM5 model and the Harris Quasi-Lagrangian model. These models generate superior forecasts of wind and wave vectors and other weather variables for periods from 12 to 72 hours. WorldWinds™ is unique in that it can forecast winds over the entire surface of the Earth, producing a seamless global weather map every hour of every day. Data can be given at spatial grid intervals that range from 120 to as little as 3 km. Both spatial and temporal scales can be adjusted to satisfy the needs of clients.

This program was written by Elizabeth L. Valenti and Patrick Fitzpatrick of WorldWinds, Inc., and Samuel W. McCandless, Jr., and Barton Huxtable of User Systems, Inc., for Stennis Space Center.

Refer to SSC-00109, volume and number of this NASA Tech Briefs issue, and the page number.