Removal of artifacts from Hurricane Imaging Radiometer Tb images

Abstract

The Hurricane Imaging (microwave) Radiometer (HIRAD) is an airborne remote sensor designed to measure the ocean surface wind speed in hurricanes in the presence of strong tropical rainfall. This sensor employs the synthetic thinned-array radiometer (STAR) technology to produce high-resolution and wide-swath (∼60 km) images of ocean brightness temperature (Tb) with spatial resolutions of a few km. Unfortunately, the ocean Tb images are frequently corrupted by linear “stripes” produced in the along-track direction; and the removal of these artifacts using DSP techniques is the subject of this paper. We will present a case study of severe striping that would make the data useless for remote sensing ocean wind speed and rain rate. We describe the man-interactive procedure developed to remove these image artifacts, which preserve the geophysical Tb image content. After removing the stripes, we show that the wind speed and rain rate features in the Tb image are preserved.