Influence of Regional Features on Accuracy in Determining wind Speed Over the Oceans

The influence of regional features on the accuracy of single- and twoparameter algorithms for radioaltimeter determination of the speed of the near-surface wind over the ocean was investigated. The analysis was made using data from contact measurements (NDBC buoys) and the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite radioaltimeter (wavelength 2.1 cm). It is shown that the nature of the waves, to a considerable degree related to regional conditions, exerts a strong influence on the accuracy in wind speed determination, resulting in an error in wind speed determination of 2-2.5 m/s. A new approach to the wind speed retrieval problem is proposed, making it possible to reduce the retrieval error to a level comparable with the best existing algorithms.