Modeling of the polarimetric microwave signal due to ocean surface wind vector

Aircraft observations of the azimuthal dependence of brightness temperature on wind direction indicate that the behavior is dominated by two sinusoidal functions. A two-scale model was developed to explain this behavior over all microwave frequencies and angles of incidence. A Fourier analysis of the data, along with a radiative transfer model of the atmosphere, provided an efficient means of simulating observations from a satellite platform for “global” conditions. This model was used to develop and test a simple wind vector retrieval algorithm. The retrieval analysis indicated that given expected noise, biases, and coupling errors for a satellite system, the wind direction can be retrieved to within 18 degrees if a combination of channels ranging from 6.8 to 37 GHz is used. These results were valid over atmospheric conditions ranging from clear skies to very heavy cloud cover