The EUMETSAT Ocean an sea ICE SAF: production and distribution of operational products for key parameters of the ocean surface - atmosphere interface

The OSI SAF was created in 1997 as an answer to requirements from the meteorological and oceanographic communities of EUMETSAT Member States and Co-operating States for a comprehensive information derived from meteorological satellites at the ocean-atmosphere interface. The OSI SAF consortium is constituted of Meteo-France as leading entity, and Met.no (Norske Meteorologiske Institutt), DMI (Danish Meteorological Institute), SMHI (Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute), KNMI (Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut) and IFREMER (Institut Francais de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la MER) as co-operating entities. During the development phase of the project (1997 to 2002) were developed products related to 4 key parameters of the ocean surface - atmosphere interface (Sea Surface Temperature, Radiative Fluxes, Sea Ice, Wind) on various coverage from regional to global. The Operational production of fully validated and quality controlled near-real time product started during the following phase, the Initial Operational Phase (IOP, 2002 to 2007), with dissemination relying on FTP servers and EUMETCAST. Archive was also implemented in the production centers. The current phase, the CDOP (Continuous Development and Operations Phase), covering from 2007 to 2012 takes into account new requirements at international and European level, in particular those expressed in the framework of GMES initiative, in particular for enhanced products or new products, improved resolution, and use of NetCDF. This paper gives an overview on the project, the products, their access and availability and their usage. Information is also available on www.osi-saf.org