3-5 April 2023 - Brest, FRANCE

Objectives of the workshop

The primary objectives of the MAXSS project is to provide guidance and innovative methodologies to maximise the synergetic use of available Earth Observation data (satellite, in situ) to improve understanding about the multi-scale dynamical characteristics of extreme air-sea interaction.

Extreme wind events occupy an increasing place in the mass media as they have direct societal and economic implications (human loss, material destructions...), and are expected to become more destructive in the future as a consequence of global warming. Over the last several years an increasing number of satellite observations (e.g., scatterometers, radiometers, synthetic aperture radars, altimeters) have become available that are able to estimate, either directly or indirectly, surface winds and wave characteristics over extreme events. These available observations are known to be largely heterogeneous, in both space and time, but also in terms of sensor physics. In that context, the primary objective of the ESA Marine-Atmosphere eXtreme Satellite Synergy (MAXSS) project (https://www.maxss.org/) was to provide guidance and innovative methodologies to maximize the synergetic use of available Earth Observation data (satellite, in situ) to improve understanding about the multi-scale dynamical characteristics of extreme air-sea interaction events. A number of activities has been performed, including the development of a global 10-year long multi-mission wind products from the merging of different sensors, the development of a 10-year Storm Atlas including Tropical Cyclones, Extra-Tropical Storms, and Polar lows, and the implementation of scientific applications for ocean-atmosphere interactions.

The objective of the present workshop is to present the main outcome of the MAXSS project in term of new products and scientific analysis, review the state-of-the-art in existing methods and models for retrieving and monitoring ocean-surface extreme surface winds and storm-induced waves from space (current and future instruments), and collect feedback and recommendations from the scientific community and operational users for new initiatives to be implemented in the frame of the ESA EO Science for Society programme element.

Scientific Committee

-        Bertrand CHAPRON (Ifremer/LOPS)

-        Nicolas Reul (Ifremer/LOPS)

-        Alexis Mouche (Ifremer/LOPS)

-        Jean-François Piollé (Ifremer/LOPS)

-        Clement de Boyer Montegut (Ifremer/LOPS)

-        Marcos Portabella (ICM/CSIC)

-        Ad Stoffelen (KNMI)

-        Fabrice Collard (Oceandatalab)

-        Joseph Tenerelli (Oceandatalab)

-        Jamie  Shutler (Univ Exceter)

-        Johnny A. Johannessen (NERSC)

-        William.Perrie (BIO)

-        Biao Zhang (BIO) 

-        Francois Soulat  (CLS)

-        Hans Bonekamp (Verisk)

-        Marie-Hélène Rio (ESA)

The Programme will be articulated around the following topics:

Multi-mission wind product for Marine extreme

• Data collection: radiometers, SAR and scatterometers
• Inter-calibration and homogeneization,
• Blending approaches,
• validation

Presentation of the MAXSS Storm Atlas

• Spatio-temporal data collection for TC, ETC, Polar Lows: in situ, sst, sss, waves, rain, evaporation, ocean color…
• Storm data Visualization tools

Marine Extreme Added-Value products:

• Ocean wake data
• Storm induced Waves
• Storm induced Current
• Wind-radii from observations
• Storm Vortex characterization

Scientific Analyses

• How to best exploit available multi-modal observations and simulation data to better inform extreme lifecycles and improve short-term forecasting performance ?
• Can we improve the evaluation of the sensitivity to heat and kinetic energy exchange at the ocean-atmosphere interface throughout the extreme life-cycles ?
• Can we improve our understanding of the impact of extreme wind events on the upper-ocean dynamics, biology and biogeochemistry, including major Earth System cycles (carbon, energy, water,…)
• How to assess the role of ocean’s interior dynamics (especially, temperature and salinity conditions) for the prediction of the evolution of extremes’ regimes (intensity, occurrences, location) in the future?

 Roadmap and way forward

• Future missions
• Extreme events in coupled ocean-wave-atmosphere model
• Existing gaps in Extreme Winds science and products