Abstract Calibration and validation activities for the ERS-1 scatterometer have been carried out at ECMWF, complementary to the “Haltenbanken” field campaign. At a Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) centre a wealth of verifying data is available both in time and space. By using the data and resources available at a NWP centre, it is possible to contribute extensively to a satellite instrument calibration and validation exercise. We estimated noise, and characterised the scatterometer measurements in relation to wind speed and direction. The antennae configuration of the ERS-1 scatterometer proved to be crucial for this work. It is shown that measurement noise is low and that a solution surface is generally well-defined in 3D measurement space except at low wind speed at the inner edge of the swath. We reformulated ESA's pre-launch transfer model CMOD2, and also propose revision of existing wind retrieval schemes. The changes implemented so far at ECMWF clearly improve the accuracy of wind retrieval from the scatterometer.
Wind retrieval and ERS-1 scatterometer radar backscatter measurements
Advances in Space Research ; 13 , 5 ; 53-60
1993-01-01
8 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Wind Retrieval and ERS-1 Scatterometer Radar Backscatter Measurements
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