Comparison Study of SEASAT Scatterometer and Conventional Wind Fields
Abstract
Better wind field information is needed over the open ocean, especially as a forcing function for ocean circulation models. Microwave scatterometry, as a means of remotely sensing surface wind information, was developed in response to this requirement for a surface wind field with global coverage and improved spatial and temporal resolution and this led to the 1978 deployment of the SEASAT Satellite Scatterometer (SASS). Evaluations of the three months of SEASAT data established the consistency of SASS winds with high quality surface wind data from field experiments over limited areas and time periods. Directional ambiguity of the original SASS vectors has been removed by Atlas et al. (1987) for the entire data set, and the resulting SASS winds from conventional sources. This thesis compares a 1-month (12 Aug - 9 Sep 1978) subset of these dealiased winds, in the western North Atlantic, with a conventional, pressure-derived wind field from the 6-hourly surface wind analyses of the Fleet Numerical Oceanographic Center (FNOC). Through an objective mapping procedure, the irregularly spaced SASS winds are regridded to a latitude-longitude grid, facilitating statistical comparisons with the regularly spaced FNOC wind vectors and wind stress curl calculations. The study includes qualitative comparisons to synoptic weather maps, calculations of field statistics and boxed mean differences; scatter plots of wind speed, direction, and standard deviation; statistical descriptions of the SASS-FNOC difference field, and wind stress curl calculations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA200591
Entities
People
- Kristine Holderied
Organizations
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution