SOFT Wave forecasting report - v.1.0

This report (SOFT_WP32_rep1.pdf) describes the first version of the wave
forecasting code developed within Work Package 3, task 3.2 (implementation of a
hybrid SOFT tracking system) of the SOFT Project. The forecasting of westwardpropagating
signals (planetary waves or westward-travelling eddies), using the fields
of tracked wave from Work Package 3, task 3.1, is one of the two components of the
hybrid system which is the overall deliverable of task 3.2. The results presented here
are provisional and are likely to be replaced as research proceeds.
Related to this report are two other documents:
- the progress report on task 3.1 released in January 2003
(SOFT_WP31_report.pdf), which presents the rationale to the study and
gives ample details on the scheme adopted for the fitting of elementary waves
(according to a Gaussian wave shape model) to altimeter data (see also the
paper by Cipollini, 2003);
- the handbook SOFT_WP31_handbook.pdf describing the suite of
MATLAB programs developed within Work Package 3, task 3.1 of the SOFT
Project, for the tracking of large-scale, westward propagating features
(planetary waves or westward-travelling eddies) in altimeter data and the
removal of the identified features from the datasets. The suite has been
applied to TOPEX/POSEIDON data over the Azores region (one of the SOFT
study regions) and the output results have been used for the forecast’