New BUFR encoding for EUMETSAT’s wind products

The new BUFR encoding sequence 03-10-077 is planned to be introduced 3 February 2021, for the Atmospheric Motion Vectors (AMVs) products from both the GEO and LEO services:

AMVs from Meteosat 0° FES
AMVs from Meteosat IODC
AMVs from Meteosat RSS

Metop AVHRR AMVs:

Single Polar Winds
Global Winds
Triplet Polar Winds

The WMO endorsed this sequence in November 2018, see the following has detailed information:
http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/WMOCodes/WMO306_vI2/LatestVERSION/WMO306_vI2_BUFR_TableD_en.pdf

To facilitate user transition, AMV products encoded in the new BUFR sequence will be distributed on the GTS in parallel to the currently operational AMV products, as follows:

• Parallel dissemination of Meteosat-11 AMV BUFR products from 15 July to 2 November 2020.
• Parallel dissemination of Meteosat-8 AMV BUFR products from 2 to 16 November 2020.
• Resumption of parallel dissemination of Meteosat-11 AMV BUFR products from 16 November 2020 to 3 February 2021.
• Parallel dissemination of Metop AVHRR AMV BUFR products from 15 July to 3 February 2021.

The same GTS bulletin headers will be used for the parallel dissemination of Meteosat-8 and Meteosat-11 AMVs.

The operational switch to the new BUFR sequence will take place 3 February 2021 for both EUMETCast and GTS streams.

A change in the Quality Index (QI) coding sequence in the new AMV BUFR format was deployed on 17 September 2020.

The new sequence uses the following order:

• QI code 4 = Common QI, excluding the forecast consistency test, implemented according to an internationally agreed algorithm;
• QI code 5 = EUMETSAT nominal QI excluding the forecast consistency test;
• QI code 6 = EUMETSAT nominal QI including the forecast consistency test;
• QI code 2 = EUMETSAT QI excluding the forecast consistency test, based on the AMV pressure derived from the Optimal Cloud Analysis product.

For any questions, contact our User Service Helpdesk.