Passive microwave retrieval of ocean surface windspeeds for British coastal waters

Author

Bellerby, T.J. ; Taberner, M. ; Wilmshurst, A.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Geogr., Hull Univ., UK

Volume

37

Issue

5

fYear

1999

fDate

9/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2578

Lastpage

2584

Abstract

Previous approaches to the estimation of ocean surface windspeeds from passive microwave data have been incapable of providing information within 100 km of a coastline due to land contamination in pixel footprints. This paper describes the application of a brightness-temperature separation method to the computation of Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I)-based estimates of ocean surface windspeed for the littoral zone surrounding the southern part of the British Isles over the three-month period of May-July 1996. When validated against in situ buoy data, the windspeed estimates for the coastal zone displayed broadly similar error characteristics to equivalent estimates made for the open ocean

Keywords

atmospheric boundary layer; atmospheric techniques; geophysical signal processing; microwave measurement; oceanographic regions; radiometry; remote sensing; wind; British Isles; SSM/I-based estimates; Special Sensor Microwave Imager based estimates; brightness-temperature separation method; coastal waters; error characteristics; littoral zone; ocean surface windspeeds; passive microwave data; passive microwave retrieval; Brightness temperature; Land surface; Ocean temperature; Polarization; Pollution measurement; Rough surfaces; Sea measurements; Sea surface; Surface contamination; Surface roughness;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0196-2892

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/36.789652

Filename

789652