Validation of ocean surface wind vector sensing using combined active and passive microwave measurements

Abstract

A new ocean surface wind vector measurement has been developed using combined active and passive microwave measurements from the TRMM satellite. In this method, collocated ocean normalized radar backscatter from the Precipitation Radar (PR) and retrieved wind speeds from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) are used to derive ocean wind direction. Since PR provides only a single azimuth look, multiple wind direction solutions exists; but we compare the "closest" retrieved wind direction with near-simultaneous surface truth from three ocean buoy networks, namely; National Data Buoy Center (NDBC), Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO), and Pilot Research moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA). Comparisons are also presented for QuikSCAT wind vector retrievals.