A THREE-PARAMETER ALGORITHM FOR RETRIEVING SURFACE WIND SPEED FROM RADAR ALTIMETER MEASUREMENTS

Abstract

Factors influencing the process of scattering of electromagnetic waves in the centimeter range of the wave-covered water surface are analyzed. There is a well-expressed dependence of the backscattering section on water temperature. A new three-parameter algorithm is described for the remote sensing—based retrieval of wind speed from radar altimeter measurements. Data from the TOPEX/POSEIDON experiment were processed to test the efficiency of the new algorithm. The mean error in retrieving wind speed decreased to 0.22 m/s, whereas the root mean square error decreased to 1.42 m/s.