Coincident, high resolution measurements of ocean surface rain in support of improved ascat-retrieved winds

Improving the quality of Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) derived winds in the presence of rain has been challenging due to the coarse spatial and time resolution of available rain information. A new effort is in progress that which will provide high spatial and time resolution surface rain rates coincident with ASCAT data collection off the coastlines in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida, using ground-based radar sensors. Preliminary results show that the NRCS is appreciable affected by the surface rainrate due to splash effects and also due the variation of wind speeds within and surrounding region. There are also indications that the ECMWF winds are not able to incorporate rain events and their air-sea interaction propererties.