scholarly journals Intercalibration of Backscatter Measurements among Ku-Band Scatterometers Onboard the Chinese HY-2 Satellite Constellation

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 4783
Author(s):  
Zhixiong Wang ◽  
Juhong Zou ◽  
Youguang Zhang ◽  
Ad Stoffelen ◽  
Wenming Lin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Double Difference ◽  
Satellite Orbits ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Sea Surface Wind ◽  
Geophysical Model ◽  
Geophysical Model Function ◽  
Nwp Model ◽  
Ku Band

The Chinese HY-2D satellite was launched on 19 May 2021, carrying a Ku-band scatterometer. Together with the operating scatterometers onboard the HY-2B and HY-2C satellites, the HY-2 series scatterometer constellation was built, constituting different satellite orbits and hence opportunity for mutual intercomparison and intercalibration. To achieve intercalibration of backscatter measurements for these scatterometers, this study presents and performs three methods including: (1) direct comparison using collocated measurements, in which the nonlinear calibrations can also be derived; (2) intercalibration over the Amazon rainforest; (3) and the double-difference technique based on backscatter simulations over the global oceans, in which a geophysical model function and numerical weather prediction (NWP) model winds are needed. The results obtained using the three methods are comparable, i.e., the differences among them are within 0.1 dB. The intercalibration results are validated by comparing the HY-2 series scatterometer wind speeds with NWP model wind speeds. The curves of wind speed bias for the HY-2 series scatterometers are quite similar, particularly in wind speeds ranging from 4 to 20 m/s. Based on the well-intercalibrated backscatter measurements, consistent sea surface wind products from HY-2 series scatterometers can be produced, and greatly benefit data applications.

scholarly journals Scatterometer hurricane wind speed retrievals using cross polarization

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 7945-7984 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.-J. van Zadelhoff ◽  
A. Stoffelen ◽  
P. W. Vachon ◽  
J. Wolfe ◽  
J. Horstmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Geophysical Model ◽  
Hurricane Wind ◽  
Geophysical Model Function ◽  
Sar Imagery ◽  
Nwp Model

Abstract. Hurricane-force wind speeds can have a large societal impact and in this paper microwave C-band cross-polarized (VH) signals are investigated to assess if they can be used to derive extreme wind speed conditions. European satellite scatterometers have excellent hurricane penetration capability at C-band, but the vertically (VV) polarized signals become insensitive above 25 m s−1. VV and VH polarized backscatter signals from RADARSAT-2 SAR imagery acquired during severe hurricane events were compared to collocated SFMR wind measurements acquired by NOAA's hurricane-hunter aircraft. From this data set a Geophysical Model Function (GMF) at strong-to-extreme/severe wind speeds (i.e. 20 m s−1 < U10 < 45 m s−1) is derived. Within this wind speed regime, cross-polarized data showed no distinguishable loss of sensitivity and as such, cross-polarized data can be considered a good candidate for the retrieval of strong-to-severe wind speeds from satellite instruments. The upper limit of 45 m s−1 is defined by the currently available collocated data. The validity of the derived relationship between wind speed and VH has been evaluated by comparing the cross polarized signals to two independent wind speed datasets, i.e. short-range ECMWF Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model forecast winds and the NOAA best estimate one-minute maximum sustained winds. Analysis of the three comparison data sets confirm that cross-polarized signals from satellites will enable the retrieval of strong-to-severe wind speeds where VV or horizontal (HH) polarization data has saturated. The VH backscatter increases exponentially with respect to wind speed (linear against VH [dB]) and a near real time assessment of maximum sustained wind speed is possible using VH measurements. VH measurements thus would be an extremely valuable complement on next-generation scatterometers for Hurricane forecast warnings and hurricane model initialization.

scholarly journals Retrieving hurricane wind speeds using cross-polarization C-band measurements

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.-J. van Zadelhoff ◽  
A. Stoffelen ◽  
P. W. Vachon ◽  
J. Wolfe ◽  
J. Horstmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Geophysical Model ◽  
Hurricane Wind ◽  
Geophysical Model Function ◽  
Sar Imagery ◽  
Nwp Model

Abstract. Hurricane-force wind speeds can have a large societal impact and in this paper microwave C-band cross-polarized (VH) signals are investigated to assess if they can be used to derive extreme wind-speed conditions. European satellite scatterometers have excellent hurricane penetration capability at C-band, but the vertically (VV) polarized signals become insensitive above 25 m s−1. VV and VH polarized backscatter signals from RADARSAT-2 SAR imagery acquired during severe hurricane events were compared to collocated SFMR wind measurements acquired by NOAA's hurricane-hunter aircraft. From this data set a geophysical model function (GMF) at strong-to-extreme/severe wind speeds (i.e., 20 m s−1 < U10 < 45 m s−1) is derived. Within this wind speed regime, cross-polarized data showed no distinguishable loss of sensitivity and as such, cross-polarized data can be considered a good candidate for the retrieval of strong-to-severe wind speeds from satellite instruments. The upper limit of 45 m s−1 is defined by the currently available collocated data. The validity of the derived relationship between wind speed and VH backscatter has been evaluated by comparing the cross-polarized signals to two independent wind-speed data sets (i.e., short-range ECMWF numerical weather prediction (NWP) model forecast winds and the NOAA best estimate 1-minute maximum sustained winds). Analysis of the three comparison data sets confirm that cross-polarized signals from satellites will enable the retrieval of strong-to-severe wind speeds where VV or horizontal (HH) polarization data has saturated. The VH backscatter increases exponentially with respect to wind speed (linear against VH [dB]) and a near-real-time assessment of maximum sustained wind speed is possible using VH measurements. VH measurements thus would be an extremely valuable complement on next-generation scatterometers for hurricane forecast warnings and hurricane model initialization.

scholarly journals Validation of NOAA CyGNSS Wind Speed Product with the CCMP Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1832
Author(s):  
Xiaohui Li ◽  
Dongkai Yang ◽  
Jingsong Yang ◽  
Guoqi Han ◽  
Gang Zheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Satellite System ◽  
Wind Retrieval ◽  
Sea Surface Wind ◽  
Geophysical Model ◽  
Geophysical Model Function ◽  
Global Navigation Satellite

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CyGNSS) mission was launched in December 2016, which can remotely sense sea surface wind with a relatively high spatio-temporal resolution for tracking tropical cyclones. In recent years, with the gradual development of the geophysical model function (GMF) for CyGNSS wind retrieval, different versions of CyGNSS Level 2 products have been released and their performance has gradually improved. This paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of CyGNSS wind product v1.1 produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Cross-Calibrated Multi-Platform (CCMP) analysis wind (v02.0 and v02.1 near real time) products produced by Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) were used as the reference. Data pairs between the NOAA CyGNSS and RSS CCMP products were processed and evaluated by the bias and standard deviation SD. The CyGNSS dataset covers the period between May 2017 and December 2020. The statistical comparisons show that the bias and SD of CyGNSS relative to CCMP-nonzero collocations when the flag of CCMP winds is nonzero are –0.05 m/s and 1.19 m/s, respectively. The probability density function (PDF) of the CyGNSS winds coincides with that of CCMP-nonzero. Furthermore, the average monthly bias and SD show that CyGNSS wind is consistent and reliable generally. We found that negative deviation mainly appears at high latitudes in both hemispheres. Positive deviation appears in the China Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the west of Africa and South America. Spatial–temporal analysis demonstrates the geographical anomalies in the bias and SD of the CyGNSS winds, confirming that the wind speed bias shows a temporal dependency. The verification and comparison show that the remotely sensed wind speed measurements from NOAA CyGNSS wind product v1.1 are in good agreement with CCMP winds.

scholarly journals Towards the Sea Wind Measurement with the Airborne Scatterometer Having the Rotating-Beam Antenna Mounted over Fuselage

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 5165
Author(s):  
Alexey Nekrasov ◽  
Alena Khachaturian
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Rotating Beam ◽  
Partial Shading ◽  
Wind Measurement ◽  
Wind Retrieval ◽  
Sea Surface Wind ◽  
Geophysical Model ◽  
Geophysical Model Function ◽  
Sea Wind

Extension of the existing airborne radars’ applicability is a perspective approach to the remote sensing of the environment. Here we investigate the capability of the rotating-beam radar installed over the fuselage for the sea surface wind measurement based on the comparison of the backscatter with the respective geophysical model function (GMF). We also consider the robustness of the proposed approach to the partial shading of the underlying water surface by the aircraft nose, tail, and wings. The wind retrieval algorithms have been developed and evaluated using Monte-Carlo simulations. We find our results promising both for the development of new remote sensing systems as well as the functional enhancement of existing airborne radars.

scholarly journals High-Resolution Hurricane Vector Winds from C-Band Dual-Polarization SAR Observations

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 272-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Biao Zhang ◽  
William Perrie ◽  
Jun A. Zhang ◽  
Eric W. Uhlhorn ◽  
Yijun He
Keyword(s):  
Cost Function ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Band Model ◽  
Retrieval Model ◽  
Dual Polarization ◽  
Wind Retrieval ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Geophysical Model ◽  
Consistency Results ◽  
Geophysical Model Function

Abstract This study presents a new approach for retrieving hurricane surface wind vectors utilizing C-band dual-polarization (VV, VH) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observations. The copolarized geophysical model function [C-band model 5.N (CMOD5.N)] and a new cross-polarized wind speed retrieval model for dual polarization [C-band cross-polarized ocean surface wind retrieval model for dual-polarization SAR (C-2POD)] are employed to construct a cost function. Minimization of the cost function allows optimum estimates for the wind speeds and directions. The wind direction ambiguities are removed using a parametric two-dimensional sea surface inflow angle model. To evaluate the accuracy of the proposed method, two RADARSAT-2 SAR images of Hurricanes Bill and Bertha are analyzed. The retrieved wind speeds and directions are compared with collocated Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) winds, showing good consistency. Results suggest that the proposed method has good potential to retrieve hurricane surface wind vectors from dual-polarization SAR observations.

scholarly journals The Probability Distribution of Sea Surface Wind Speeds: Effects of Variable Surface Stratification and Boundary Layer Thickness

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (19) ◽  
pp. 5151-5162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Hugh Monahan
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Layer Thickness ◽  
Boundary Layer Thickness ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Surface Winds ◽  
Free Atmosphere ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Sea Surface Wind ◽  
Variable Surface

Abstract Air–sea exchanges of momentum, energy, and material substances of fundamental importance to the variability of the climate system are mediated by the character of the turbulence in the atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers. Sea surface winds influence, and are influenced by, these fluxes. The probability density function (pdf) of sea surface wind speeds p(w) is a mathematical object describing the variability of surface winds that arises from the physics of the turbulent atmospheric planetary boundary layer. Previous mechanistic models of the pdf of sea surface wind speeds have considered the momentum budget of an atmospheric layer of fixed thickness and neutral stratification. The present study extends this analysis, using an idealized model to consider the influence of boundary layer thickness variations and nonneutral surface stratification on p(w). It is found that surface stratification has little direct influence on p(w), while variations in boundary layer thickness bring the predictions of the model into closer agreement with the observations. Boundary layer thickness variability influences the shape of p(w) in two ways: through episodic downward mixing of momentum into the boundary layer from the free atmosphere and through modulation of the importance (relative to other tendencies) of turbulent momentum fluxes at the surface and the boundary layer top. It is shown that the second of these influences dominates over the first.

scholarly journals A Wind Speed Retrieval Model for Sentinel-1A EW Mode Cross-Polarization Images

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan Gao ◽  
Changlong Guan ◽  
Jian Sun ◽  
Lian Xie
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Incidence Angle ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
European Space Agency ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Cross Polarization ◽  
Retrieval Model ◽  
Sar Images ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Sea Surface Wind

In contrast to co-polarization (VV or HH) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, cross-polarization (CP for VH or HV) SAR images can be used to retrieve sea surface wind speeds larger than 20 m/s without knowing the wind directions. In this paper, a new wind speed retrieval model is proposed for European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-1A (S-1A) Extra-Wide swath (EW) mode VH-polarized images. Nineteen S-1A images under tropical cyclone condition observed in the 2016 hurricane season and the matching data from the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) radiometer are collected and divided into two datasets. The relationships between normalized radar cross-section (NRCS), sea surface wind speed, wind direction and radar incidence angle are analyzed for each sub-band, and an empirical retrieval model is presented. To correct the large biases at the center and at the boundaries of each sub-band, a corrected model with an incidence angle factor is proposed. The new model is validated by comparing the wind speeds retrieved from S-1A images with the wind speeds measured by SMAP. The results suggest that the proposed model can be used to retrieve wind speeds up to 35 m/s for sub-bands 1 to 4 and 25 m/s for sub-band 5.

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