Polarimetric Microwave Remote Sensing of Hurricane Ocean Winds

Abstract

We presente the analysis of Windsat data for hurricanes Isabel and Fabian in 2003. The polarimetric third and fourth Stokes parameter observations from the Windsat 10, 18 and 37 GHz channels were collocated with the ocean surface winds from the Holland wind model, the QuikSCAT wind vectors and the Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) operated by the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). The collocated data were binned as a function of wind speed and wind direction, and were expanded by sinusoidal series of the relative azimuth angles between wind and observation directions. The coefficients of the sinusoidal series, corrected for atmospheric attenuation, have been used to develop an empirical geophysical model function (GMF). The Windsat GMF for extreme high wind compares very well with the aircraft radiometer and radar measurements.

WindSat retrieval of ocean surface wind speeds in tropical cyclones

“…[4] addresses the connection between wind direction and the 3 rd and 4 th Stokes parameters of brightness temperature. However, emissivity and wind speed for the vertically and horizontally polarized parameters are largely uncharacterized.…”