Over the past decade, analyses and forecasts of the sea state over the oceans have become more widely available. These fields are generally produced by meteorological centres because they also generate the necessary surface winds. The operational production of such products at two weather centres is briefly described in this paper. Verification of the quality of the model output is also an essential pan of the operational procedure in place at those centres. A small number of independent in situ observations and satellite data are currently used for the quality assessment. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.