Satellite Scatterometers
Satellite scatterometers directly measure reflected microwave energy from the ocean surface. This measures the average density of capillaries & short gravity waves in the 1-6 cm range over the footprint of 25 km. These correlate well to surface wind speed. When observations of the same location are made with several antennae and/or incidence angles the wind vector can be determined. The suite of signals has been correlated with 'ground truth' to derive a robust calibration for a variety of planetary boundary layer parameters such as 10-meter wind speed, U* and even sea level pressure. This site provides derived data from NSCAT and QuikSCAT.
NSCAT home page |
QuikSCAT home page |
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