Image of the month News
11.10.2016 14:59 Age: 8 yrs
Jason-3 data assimilated operationally in Météo France model
Category: News of the Jason-3 mission
Assimilation of Jason-3 Significant Wave Height into an operational Numerical Operational Prediction (NWP) system at Météo France.
Altimeters can measure sea surface height first and foremost the waves height, which is of prime importance to marine weather forecasters in terms of maritime safety. Since the run of 18:00 (UTC) on 6 october 2016, the operational wave model MFWAM at Météo-France assimilated operationally the Jason-3 wave data. The map below shows a snapshot of significant wave height (SWH) in meters capturing the high waves generated by the tropical storms NICOLE and MATTHEW. The SWH values are superimposed over the map along the Jason-3 ground tracks. By assilimilating into wave models, Jason-3 data improves the wave forecast.
| Snapshot of significant wave height (in meters) from the global operational wave model MFWAM on 7 October 2016 at 0:00 (UTC). Jason-3 wave height are indicated on orbit tracks passing in time window of 6 hours during the event of tropical storm Nicole and hurricane Matthew. Credits Météo France. |
Further information:
- Jason-3 video: Meteorology and rogue waves
- Applications: Atmopshere, winds and waves
- News, Category Ocean and climate news
- Winter high waves in North Atlantic
- Strong swell in french Polynesia on June 2013
