Keywords
remote sensing by radar, spaceborne radar, wind
Abstract
SeaWinds on QuikSCAT, a spaceborne Ku-band scatterometer, estimates ocean winds via the relationship between the normalized radar backscatter and the vector wind. Scatterometer wind retrieval generates several possible wind vector solutions or ambiguities at each resolution cell, requiring a separate ambiguity selection step to give a unique solution. In processing SeaWinds on QuikSCAT data, the ambiguity selection is "nudged" or initialized using numerical weather prediction winds. We describe a sophisticated new ambiguity selection approach developed at Brigham Young University (BYU) that does not require nudging. The BYU method utilizes a low-order data-driven Karhunen-Loeve wind field model to promote self-consistency. Ambiguity selected winds from the BYU method and standard SeaWinds processing are compared over a set of 102 revs. A manual examination of the data suggests that the nonnudging BYU method selects a more self-consistent wind field in the absence of cyclonic storms. Over a set of cyclonic storm regions, BYU performs better in 9% of the cases and worse in 20% of the cases. Overall, the BYU algorithm selects 93% of the same ambiguities as the standard dataset. This comparison helps validate both nonnudging and nudging techniques and indicates that SeaWinds ambiguity selection can be generally accomplished without nudging.
Original Publication Citation
Draper, D. W., and D. G. Long. "An Advanced Ambiguity Selection Algorithm for SeaWinds." Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on 41.3 (23): 538-47
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Long, David G. and Draper, David W., "An advanced ambiguity selection algorithm for SeaWinds" (2003). Faculty Publications. 510.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/510
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2003-03-01
Permanent URL
http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/1014
Publisher
IEEE
Language
English
College
Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Copyright Status
© 2003 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.
Copyright Use Information
http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/