A system has been developed for assimilation of SAR image spectra into a discrete ocean wave model, with the objective of improving operational wave forecasts provided by the Atmospheric Environment Service (AES). The data used in this work were acquired by ERS-1 in the SAR Wave Mode. AES runs an operational first generation model (CSOWM) twice daily to produce wave forecasts for the North Atlantic and North Pacific. In the future, this model will be replaced by an operational version of the third generation WAM model. The assimilation system developed here has been implemented with both CSOWM and WAM. The authors show that significant local impact results from assimilation, but that the system's free parameters affect the results.
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