Toward the use of Earth Observation Wind Data for Marine Search and Rescue Operations

In an effort to increase the accuracy of drift prediction for search and rescue purposes, the authors have investigated the use of Earth Observation (EO) derived wind fields in drift modeling software used operationally by the Canadian Coast Guard. This investigating included both QuickSCAT and Synthetic Aperture Radar wind fields. Field campaigns were conducted off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, during years 2004-2005, in which drift experiments were conducted with complementary EO acquisitions. Three SAR wind retrieval approaches were used. Our comparisons of SAR winds with scatterometer and in situ data show promising results for the optimal inversion method using a background wind model. At first glance, QuickSCAT winds do not improve the forecasted drift for any of the drifter configurations. However, an improvement is observed in short timescale drift trajectories with the use of SAR winds for most of the target configurations. The observed improvement decreases for increased duration of drift tracks, but this is to be expected since the uncertainties and errors associated drift prediction increase with time.