Assessment of composite global sampling: Sea srface wind speed

Research and forecasts of the weather-ocean-climate system demand increasingly higher resolution forcing data. Here we assess the improvement in composite global observations and the feasibility of producing high resolution blended sea winds. The number of the long-term US sea surface wind speed observing satellites has increased from one in July 1987 to five or more since 2000. Global 0.25 degrees gridded, blended products with temporal resolutions of 6-hours, 12-hours and daily have become feasible since mid 2002, mid 1995 and January 1991, respectively ( with >= 75% time coverage and >= 90% spatial coverage between 65 degrees S - 65 degrees N). If the coverage is relaxed, the feasible times can be extended to earlier periods. These statistics provide practical guidance to produce reliable blended products for different applications, and serve as guidance on the design of future global observing systems.