Polarimetric radiometer sensing of sea surface winds using SHOWEX data to determine the Stokes harmonic coefficients

This research utilizes the analysis of data acquired from microwave remote sensing instruments deployed on the Twin-Otter aircraft during the Shoaling Waves Experiment (SHOWEX 99) between November 11 to December 4, 1999. The principal data comes from the NOAA/ETL 37 GHz polarimetric radiometer and APL/UW coherent real-aperture radar (CORAR), a dual polarized X-band radar (which for the purposes of this investigation is being used as an incoherent scatterometer) A principal focus is the study of the magnitude and variance of the harmonic coefficients of the Stokes parameters (mainly the Fourier coefficients, "Q₂" and "U₂") at a variety of incidence angles, as a function of wind speed and friction velocity. An examination of the azimuthal variation of the polarimetric radiometer (PR) data from seven different flight days during SHOWEX (with winds ranging from 7 to 12 m/s) showed that the Stokes parameters (Q & U) increase with wind speed consistent with results obtained during the COPE Experiment in 1995. However, the variability observed at higher incidence angles increases the likelihood of errors in applications