GPS-based remote sensing of ocean-surface wind speed from space

Previous papers have demonstrated the ability to determine wind speed and direction from ocean-reflected GPS signals observed at aircraft altitudes to within 2 m/s and 20 degrees of in situ measurements. This paper presents a preliminary step towards extending GPS-based wind vector retrievals to spacecraft altitudes. The work takes the form of visibility, sensitivity, and noise analyses. The visibility analysis reveals the number of ocean-reflected GPS signals visible per day, a value that drives the uncertainty in wind vector estimates. The sensitivity analysis determines which delay/Doppler cells of a glistening zone visible from space are most sensitive to changes in wind speed and direction. Finally, the noise analysis uses results from the previous two analyses to determine the uncertainty in wind vector retrievals using the cells identified in the sensitivity analysis