A Fieldwise Retrieval Approach to the Noise Versus Resolution Tradeoff in Wind Scatterometry

This paper approaches the noise versus resolution tradeoff in wind scatterometry from a fieldwise retrieval perspective. Theoretical considerations are discussed, and a practical implementation is developed and applied to the SeaWinds scatterometer. The approach is compared with conventional approaches, as well as numerical weather predictions and buoys. The new method incorporates knowledge of the wind spectrum to reduce the impact of components of the wind signal that are expected to be noisy while enabling reconstruction of fine-scale features that are distinguishable from noise.