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Radiometric correction of scatterometric wind measurementsUse of a spaceborne scatterometer to determine the ocean-surface wind vector requires accurate measurement of radar backscatter from ocean. Such measurements are hindered by the effect of attenuation in the precipitating regions over sea. The attenuation can be estimated reasonably well with the knowledge of brightness temperatures observed by a microwave radiometer. The NASA SeaWinds scatterometer is to be flown on the Japanese ADEOS2. The AMSR multi-frequency radiometer on ADEOS2 will be used to correct errors due to attenuation in the SeaWinds scatterometer measurements. Here we investigate the errors in the attenuation corrections. Errors would be quite small if the radiometer and scatterometer footprints were identical and filled with uniform rain. However, the footprints are not identical, and because of their size one cannot expect uniform rain across each cell. Simulations were performed with the SeaWinds scatterometer (13.4 GHz) and AMSR (18.7 GHz) footprints with gradients of attenuation. The study shows that the resulting wind speed errors after correction (using the radiometer) are small for most cases. However, variations in the degree of overlap between the radiometer and scatterometer footprints affect the accuracy of the wind speed measurements.
Document ID
19960003216
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Contractor Report (CR)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
October 9, 1995
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
NAS 1.26:199644
NIPS-95-05617
NASA-CR-199644
Accession Number
96N13225
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: JPL-959073
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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