Acronyms

  • 2DVAR
    Two Dimensional Variational Ambiguity Removal
    Scatterometer winds are principally ambiguous in wind direction. 2DVAR performs an incremental analysis based on the ambiguous scatterometer wind vector solutions and a model forecast, and selects the most likely solution.
  • AASTI
    The Arctic and Antarctic sea and sea ice Surface Temperature from thermal Infrared satellites sensors
  • ACCESS
    Arctic Climate Change Economy and Society
    Research project funded by European Union
  • AHL
    Atlantic Hight Latitude
  • AMSR
    Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer
    AMSR-E is the AMSR instrument on board AQUA satellite (NASA), and AMSR-2 the one on board GCOM-W1 satellite (JAXA)
  • AMSU
    Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit
  • ASCAT
    Advanced SCATerometer
  • ATBD
    Algorithm Theoretical Baseline Document
  • ATL
    ATlantic Low and mid latitude
  • AVHRR
    Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
  • AWDP
    Ascat Wind Data Processor
  • BUFR
    Binary Universal Form for data Representation
    A product format used by OSI SAF
  • CDOP
    Continuous Development and Operations Phase
    CDOP : first SAF CDOP from March 2007 to February 2012, CDOP2 : second CDOP from March 2012 to February 2017, CDOP3 : from March 2017 to February 2022
  • CDR
    Climate Data Record
    A time series of measurements of sufficient length, consistency, and continuity to determine climate variability and change.
  • CERSAT
    CERSAT/Laboratory of Oceanography From Space
    Ifremer "Centre ERS d'Archivage et de Traitement"
  • CM SAF
    Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring
  • CMEMS
    Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service
    CMEMS is the Copernicus Marine Service entrusted to Mercator Ocean by the European Union. Inside the CMEMS, the wind, ice and SST TAC (WITS) provides operational (Level 3 and 4) observational multi-mission data products derived from upstream satellite earth observation (L2) data (among with OSI SAF data).
  • CMOD
    OSI SAF GMF ?
  • CMS
    Centre de Météorologie Spatiale
    Météo-France Satellite Centre located in Lannion, France.
  • Copernicus
    Copernicus
    Copernicus, previously known as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), is the European Programme for the establishment of a European system for monitoring the Earth. Copernicus consists of a complex set of systems which collect data from multiple sources: earth observation satellites and in situ sensors. It processes these data and provides users with reliable and up-to-date information through a set of services related to environmental and security issues. The services address six thematic areas: land, marine, atmosphere, climate change, emergency management and security. The marine service uses OSI SAF products as inputs.
  • DAMOCLES
    Developing Arctic Modeling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environnemental Studies
    Research project funded by European Union
  • DLI
    Downward Long wave Irradiance
  • DMI
    Danish Meteorological Institute
  • DMSP
    Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
    US Air force DMSP satellites (DMSP-F19 with instrument SSMIS on board for example) are used in OSI SAF Sea Ice processing
  • EARS
    Eumetsat Advanced Retransmission Service
  • EASE
    Equal-Area Scalable Earth
    The Equal-Area Scalable Earth Grid (EASE-Grid) is intended to be a versatile format for global-scale gridded data, specifically remotely sensed data.
    This Lambert azimuthal equal-area is used for OSI SAF sea ice products.
  • ECMWF
    European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts
    European organisation Providing weather forecast support to European meteorological organizations.
  • EDC
    EUMETSAT Data Centre
    The EUMETSAT Data Centre provides a long-term archive of data and generated products from EUMETSAT, which can be ordered online.
  • EPS
    European Polar System
    EUMETSAT operational system based on METOP polar orbiting satellites.
  • ESA
    European Space Agency
    ESA is responsible for several satellites of interest, in particular ENVISAT satellite, from which is derived the AATSR SST, key reference for the OSI SAF, and for the SENTINEL-3 satellite.
  • EUMETCast
    EUMETCast
    EUMETCast is a multi-service dissemination system based on standard Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) technology. It uses commercial telecommunication geostationary satellites to multi-cast files (data and products) to a wide user community. EUMETCast also delivers a range of third-party products.
  • EUMETSAT
    European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites
  • FAQ
    Frequently Asked Question
  • FAR
    False Alarm Ratio
  • FTP
    File Transfer Protocol
  • GAC
    Global Area Coverage
    (sample averaging of the full resolution AVHRR data)
  • GBL
    GloBaL ocean
  • GCOM-W
    Global Change Observation Mission-Water
  • GCOS
    Global Climate Observing System
    Global Climate Observing System, is a source of requirement for the OSI SAF.
  • GDS
    GHRSST Data Specification
    Technical specification of GHRSST products and services
  • GEO
    Geostationary Earth Orbit
  • GHRSST
    Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature
    The GHRSST gathers an international community of users involved in scientific projects and operational Oceanography, and as a consequence is an important source of requirements for the OSI SAF. More information in the GHRSST User Guide version 9 (ftp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/allData/ghrsst/docs/GHRSSTUserGuidev9.pdf)
  • GMF
    Geophysical Model Function
    The GMF relates the scatterometer normalized radar cross section to the ocean wind speed and direction.
  • GOES
    Geostationary Operational Enviromental Satellite
  • GRIB
    GRIdded Binary
    A product format used by OSI SAF.
  • GTS
    Global Transmission System
  • HDF
    Hierarchical Data Format
    A product format used by OSI SAF.
  • HIRLAM
    HIgh Resolution Limited Area Model
  • HL
    Hight Latitude
  • HOAPS
    Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and fluxes from Satellite data
  • HRIT
    Hight Rate Information Transmission
  • IAOOS
    Ice Atmosphere Arctic Ocean Observing System
    French research project
  • ICDR
    Interim Climate Data Record
    Regular and consistent updates of a CDR.
  • Ifremer
    Institut FRançais de recherche pour l'Exploitation de la MER
    French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea
  • IOMASA
    Integrated Observation and Modeling of Arctic Sea ice and Atmosphere
    Research project funded by European Union
  • IOP
    Initial Operational Phase
    This OSI SAF phase began after the development phase (from 1997 to 2002) and took place from July 2002 to February 2007
  • IOVWST
    International Ocean Vector Wind Science Team
  • ISRO
    Indian Space Research Organisation
  • IWWG
    International Wind Working Group
  • JAXA
    Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency
  • JPL
    Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  • JPSS
    Joined Polar Satellite System
    Joined NOAA-EUMETSAT operational system based on NOAA and METOP polar orbiting satellites
  • KNMI
    Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut
    Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
  • L1B
    Level 1B
    Levels from 0 to 4 have been defined by the remote sensing community to describe the processing level of products.
    Level 0 represents raw data, while Level 4 data have had the greatest amount of processing applied.
    Level 1B are unprocessed instrument data alongside ancillary information (Level 1A data) that have been processed to sensor units.
  • L2
    Level 2
    Levels from 0 to 4 have been defined by the remote sensing community to describe the processing level of products.
    Level 0 represents raw data, while Level 4 data have had the greatest amount of processing applied.
    Level 2 products are retrieved environmental variables at the same resolution and location as the level 1 source data.
    The OSI SAF products are L2 and L3 products based on lower level products mainly provided by EUMETSAT.
  • L2P
    Level 2 Pre-processed
    On top of levels from L0 to L4 defined by the remote sensing community to describe the processing level of products, the SST community has developed a set of SST definitions in the context of the GHRSST.
    L2P products are satellite SST observations together with a measure of uncertainty for each observation in a common GHRSST netCDF format.
    Auxiliary fields are also provided for each pixel as dynamic flags to filter and help interpret the SST data.
  • L2Pcore
    Level 2 Pre-processed Core
    On top of levels from L0 to L4 defined by the remote sensing community to describe the processing level of products, the SST community has developed a set of SST definitions in the context of the GHRSST. L2Pcore is defined like L2P but only with 6 mandatory fields that form the core data content of a GHRSST L2P data file.
  • L3
    Level 3
    Levels from 0 to 4 have been defined by the remote sensing community to describe the processing level of products.
    Level 0 represents raw data, while Level 4 data have had the greatest amount of processing applied.
    Level 3 products are data which have been spatially and/or temporally re-sampled (i.e., derived from level 1 or 2 products). Such re-sampling may include averaging and compositing.
    The OSI SAF products are L2 and L3 products based on lower level products mainly provided by EUMETSAT.
  • L3C
    Level 3 Collated
    On top of levels from L0 to L4 defined by the remote sensing community to describe the processing level of products, the SST community has developed a set of SST definitions in the context of the GHRSST.
    Gridding a single L2P file produces an "uncollated" L3 file (L3U). Multiple L2P files are gridded to produce either a "collated" L3 file (L3C) from a single sensor or a "super-collated" L3 file from multiple sensors (L3S).
  • L3P
    Level 3 Pre-processed
    L3P was never formally defined in a GHRSST Data Specification, but some people still use the term informally.
    See L2P and L3C definitions.
  • LEO
    Low Earth Orbit
  • LML
    Low and Mid Latitude
  • MAP
    Merged Atlantic Product
  • Mercator Ocean
    Mercator Ocean
    Mercator Ocean is a privately-owned non-profit company. It provides operational real-time ocean analyses and forecasts. The organisation was founded and is funded by the five major French institutions involved in operational oceanography: CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Météo-France and SHOM.
    Mercator Ocean is the CMEMS (Copernicus Marine Service) delegate of the European Union.
  • MERSEA
    Marine Environment and Security for the European Area
    Research project funded by European Union
  • MET
    nominal METeosat at 0° longitude
  • MET Norway
    Norwegian Meteorological Institute
  • Metop
    Meteorological Operational Satellite
  • MF
    Météo-France
    French National Meteorological Service
  • MLE
    Maximum Likelihood Estimator
  • MSG
    Meteosat Second Generation
  • MyOcean
    Precursor of CMEMS (research project funded by European Union)
  • NAR
    Northern Atlantic and Regional
  • NASA
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • NAVOCEANO
    NAVal OCEANographic Office
    (US)
  • NCEP
    National Center of Environmental Prediction
    NOAA centre for numerical prediction
  • NESDIS
    National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service
    NOAA centre for satellite products
  • NetCDF
    Network Common Data Form
    A product format used by OSI SAF.
  • NMS
    National Meteorological Service
  • NOAA
    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • NPOESS
    National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System
  • NPP
    NPOESS Preparatory Project
  • NRT
    Near Real Time
    NRT product means that the product is provided to users according to the timeliness defined in product requirement document for each product (generally less than 3 hours)
  • NWC SAF
    Satellite Application Facility on support to NoWCasting and very short range forecasting
  • NWP
    Numerical Weather Prediction
  • NWP SAF
    Satellite Application Facility for Numerical Weather Prediction
  • OCEANSAT-2
    ISRO oceanographic satellite launched in 2009
  • OSCAR
    Observing Systems Capability Analysis and Review Tool
    OSCAR is a resource developed by WMO in support of Earth Observation applications, studies and global coordination.
    It contains quantitative user-defined requirements for observation of physical variables in application areas of WMO (i.e. related to weather, water and climate). OSCAR also provides detailed information on all earth observation satellites and instruments, and expert analyses of space-based capabilities.
  • OSCAT
    Ocean SCATterometer
    Ku-Band wind scatterometer flying on OCEANSAT-2
  • OSI SAF
    Ocean and Sea Ice SAF
    Satellite Application Facility on Ocean and Sea Ice
  • OSITAC
    Ocean and Sea Ice Thematic Assembly Center
    (from MyOcean)
  • OSTIA
    Operational Sea surface Temperature and sea Ice Analysis
    The OSTIA system produces a daily high resolution analysis of the sea surface temperature (SST) for the global ocean.
  • PDF
    Probability Density Function / Probability Distribution Function
    In the OSI SAF wind context : Probability Density Function
    In the OSI SAF sea ice context : Probability Distribution Function
  • PenWP
    Pencil beam Wind Processor
  • PMW
    Passive MicroWave
  • PN
    EUMETSAT Product Navigator
    Catalogue for all EUMETSAT data and products, including third-party products disseminated via EUMETCast.
  • PoD
    Probability of Detection
  • PODAAC
    Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center
    NASA satellite data centre for oceanography
  • PRD
    Product requirement Document
    The purpose of the OSI SAF PRD is to provide the characteristics of products and services to be provided in the long term, e.g. at the end of the CDOP-2. It describes the committed target for development and operations. It is the main reference document for all development related reviews. It indicates to the users what can be expected after completion of planned developments.
  • PUM
    Product User Manual
  • QC
    Quality Control
  • R&D
    Research and Development
  • R2O
    Research to Operations
  • RMDCN
    Regional Meteorological Data Communication Network
  • RSS
    Remote Sensing Systems
    (American scientific research compagny)
  • RTTOV
    Radiative Transfer for TOVS
    This fast radiative transfer model developed and maintained by the NWP SAF is used by OSI SAF for SST retrieval
  • SAF
    Satellite Application Facility
    Utilising specialist expertise from the EUMETSAT Member States, Satellite Application Facilities (SAFs) are dedicated centres of excellence for processing satellite data. They form an integral part of the distributed EUMETSAT Application Ground Segment.
  • SeaWinds
    SeaWinds
    Radar scatterometer on board QuickSCAT to retrieve Sea surface wind vector.
    Utilization Period: 1999 to 23/11/2009
  • SeSp
    Service Specification document
    The purpose of the OSI SAF service specification document is to provide specifications and detailed information on the services committed towards the users by the OSI SAF in a given stage of the current CDOP. The Service Specification document details the product characteristics and availability, the quality monitoring, the access to products and the user support.
  • SEVIRI
    Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infra-Red Imager
    Visible and infra-red imager flying on MSG satellites
  • SMHI
    Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute
  • SMMR
    Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer
    Flown on NIMBUS and SEASAT from 1978 to 1994-08-01
  • SPICE
    Stratospherique Particle Injection for Climate Engineering
    UK research project
  • SSES
    Single Sensor Error Statistics
    Error estimates provided with each SST value in level 2 and 3 satellite SST products which comply with the GHRSST standart
  • SSI
    Surface Solar Irradiance
  • SSMI
    Special Sensor Microwave Imager
    Microwave radiometer flying on DMSP satellites up to F-15
  • SSMIS
    Special Sensor Microwave Imager and Sounder
    Microwave radiometer flying on DMSP F-16 and successor satellites
  • SST
    Sea Surface Temperature
  • std Dev
    standart DEViation
  • SVR
    Scientific Validation Report
  • TBC
    To Be Confirmed
  • TBD
    To Be Defined
  • UMARF
    Unified Meteorological Archive & Retrieval Facility
  • VH
    Vertical transmit and Horizontal receive
  • VIIRS
    Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite
    Visible and infra-red imager flying on NPP satellite. It will fly also on JPSS-1 and 2 satellites.
  • VR
    Validation Report
  • WCRP
    World Climate Research Program
  • WITS
    Wind sea Ice and Temperature at the Sea surface service
    from CMES
  • WMO
    World Meteorological Organization
    The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is the UN system's authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth's atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources.
  • WOAP
    WOAP(World Climate Research Program) Observation and Assimilation Panel
  • WVC
    Wind Vector Cell
    Individual ocean surface element for which wind vector is retrieved from scatterometer backscatter measurements.
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