Analysis of the noise scenario measured by ASCAT

The Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) is a radar system carried on board the ESA/EUMETSAT METOP series of satellites. Its main scientific objective is the retrieval of wind fields over oceans. It also provides information on soil moisture content. Although ASCAT uses a linear frequency modulated pulse with a centre frequency of 5.255 GHz (C Band), it is subject to Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) which causes, as it is shown in this paper, an increase of the number of noise outliers and an increase of the noise background level over specific land areas. This suggests that the outliers are not a natural occurrence, but are due to RFI from ground based equipments.