IN SITU-BASED PSEUDO-WIND STRESS PRODUCTS FOR THE TROPICAL OCEANS
Abstract Quality wind stress fields are desired for a wide range of oceanographic and atmospheric studies. An overview is presented of the monthly quick-look and research-quality tropical ocean wind (pseudostress) products produced for the Pacific and Indian Oceans by The Florida State University (FSU) and for the Atlantic Ocean by the French Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement [IRD; formerly Institut Francais de Re-cherche Scientifique pour le Developpement en Cooperation (ORSTOM)]. This review article briefly discusses the current state of tropical wind stress products, including an introduction to the new objective FSU analysis technique and advancements in the IRD method. The primary focus is a detailed discussion of how the FSU and IRD pseudostress fields evolved from early subjective in situ analysis techniques. The historical retrospective introduces the scientific motivation, development, and methodology for each product. Examples of the wide range of scientific research and operational ap...