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OSCAR OSCAR stands for Ocean Surface Currents Analysis in Real time. It is not a forecast of ocean currents nor the results of an ocean model like RTOFS and NCOM. OSCAR current data are current vectors every 20 nmi presented to us in grib format. They represent a 24-hr average of the current flow at any point on earth. The latest data are valid 3 days earlier. It is computed based on satellite measurements of the height of the sea surface and the surface temperature, along with wind forecasts from the GFS model, and other input data. The data are updated daily. OSCAR currents are likely our best first guess of the current flow, but the speeds maybe lower than we see due to the averaging. OSCAR data are easy to come by in GRIB format from LuckGrib. See also starpath.com/OSCAR, which includes historic currents as well.

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