Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) led the way by initiating assimilation of QuikSCAT winds beginning, respectively, on 13 January 2002 and 22 January 2002. QuikSCAT surface winds were an important tool for analysis and forecasting at the U.S. National Hurricane Center since becoming available in near–real time in 2000. QuikSCAT wind fields were also used as a tool in the analysis and forecasting of extratropical cyclones and maritime weather outside the tropics at the U.S. Ocean Prediction Center and the U.S. National Weather Service. Data was also provided in real-time over most of the ice-free global oceans, including traditionally data-sparse regions of the ocean where few observations exist, such as in the Southern Ocean and the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. QuikSCAT observations are provided to these operational users in near-real-time (NRT) in binary universal form for the representation of meteorological data (BUFR) format by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA/NESDIS). The data latency goal is 3 hours, and almost all data are available within 3.5 hours of measurement. To meet these requirements, the QuikSCAT NRT data processing algorithms combine the finest-grained backscatter measurements into fewer composites than the science data algorithms. Otherwise the QuikSCAT NRT processing algorithms are identical to the science data algorithms. Oceanography Land and Sea Ice Climate Variability Tropical Cyclones Applications of QuikSCAT in operational tropical cyclone analysis and forecasting at the National Hurricane Center include identifying and locating the center of tropical cyclones, estimating its intensity, and wind radii analysis. The scatterometer's ability to record wind speeds at the surface allows meteorologists to determine whether a low pressure area is forming and enhance the ability to predict sudden changes in structure and strength. The first tropical cyclone captured by the SeaWinds instrument was Typhoon Olga in the western Pacific basin. The system was monitored by the satellite from its generation on July 28 to its demise in early August. In 2007, Bill Proenza, the head of the National Hurricane Center at the time, stated in a public message that the loss of the QuikSCAT satellite would harm the quality of hurricane forecasts. This followed a battery anomaly in which the spacecraft was temporarily unable to perform nominal science observations due to limited power. He claimed that three-day forecasts would be roughly 16% less accurate following the loss of QuikSCAT. This position was