Aircraft measurements of the microwave scattering signature of the ocean

Microwave scattering signatures of the ocean have been measured over a range of surface wind speeds from 3 m/s to 23.6 m/s using the AAFE RADSCAT scatterometer in an aircraft. Normalized scattering coefficients are presented for vertical and horizontal polarizations as a function of incidence angle (nadir to55deg) and radar azimuth angle (0degto360deg) relative to surface wind direction. For a given radar polarization, incidence angle, and azimuth angle relative to the wind direction, these scattering data exhibit a power law dependence on surface wind speed. The relation of the scattering coefficient to azimuth angle obtained during aircraft circles (antenna conical scans) is anisotropic and suggests that microwave scatterometers can be used to infer both wind speed and direction. These results have been used for the design of the Seasat-A Satellite Scatterometer (SASS) to be flown in 1978 on this first NASA oceanographic satellite.     

AAFE RADSCAT 13.9-GHz measurements and analysis: Wind-speed signature of the ocean

About 10 years ago, the advanced application flight experiment radiometer scatterometer (AAFE RADSCAT) made its first successful measurements of ocean radar scattering cross section from a NASA C-130 aircraft. This instrument was developed as a research tool to evaluate the use of microwave frequency remote sensors (particularly radars) to provide wind-speed information at the ocean's surface. The AAFE RADSCAT flight missions and analyses helped establish the feasibility of the satellite scatterometer for measuring both wind speed and direction. Probably the most important function of the AAFE RADSCAT was to provide a data base of ocean normalized radar cross-section (NRCS) measurements as a function of the surface wind vector at 13.9 GHz. NRCS measurements over a wide parametric range of incidence angles, azimuth angles, and winds were obtained in a series of RADSCAT aircraft missions from 1973 to 1977. Presented herein are analyses of data from the 26 RADSCAT flights during which the quality of the sensor and the surface wind measurements were felt to be understood. Subsets of this data base were used to model the relationship between theKu-band radar signature and the ocean-surface wind vector. The models developed partly from portions of this data base, supplemented with data from the Seasat (JASIN Report), were used for inversion of the Seasat-A Satellite Scatterometer (SASS) radar measurements to vector winds. This paper summarizes results from a comprehensive analysis of the RADSCAT/ocean wind signature deduced from this complete data set.     

Seasat-A satellite scatterometer instrument evaluation

The Seasat-A satellite scatterometer (SASS) was designed to measure ocean surface wind speed and direction in twenty-four (24) independent cells over a 1000-km swath. It operated in the interrupted CW mode at a frequency of 14.6 GHz with four (4) fan beam antennas and used Doppler filtering in the receiver for resolving the cells on the surface. The instrument began operating in space on July 6, 1978, and gathered normalized radar cross section (sigma^{0}) data for approximately 2290 h. The purpose of this paper is to describe the in-orbit evaluation of the SASS hardware and its compatibility with the spacecraft. It has been determined that the scatterometer operated flawlessly throughout the mission, met all design requirements, and established a good data base for geophysical processing.     

A study of a new retrieval algorithm for measurement of oceanic windvectors field using satellite microwave scatterometer

ＡｓｔｕｄｙｏｆａｎｅｗｒｅｔｒｉｅｖａｌａｌｇｏｒｉｔｈｍｆｏｒｍｅａｓｕｒｅｍｅｎｔｏｆｏｃｅａｎｉｃｗｉｎｄｖｅｃｔｏｒｓｆｉｅｌｄｕｓｉｎｇｓａｔｅｌｌｉｔｅｍｉｃｒｏｗａｖｅｓｃａｔｔｅｒｏｍｅｔｅｒＬｉｎＭｉｎｇｓｅｎ,ＳｕｎＹｉｎｇ,Ｚ...     

The effect of microwave backscatter uncertainty of satellite radar altimeter accuracy

The effect of variations in ocean surface roughness characteristics with upwind/downwind direction, reported by other investigators, is used to compute radar cross section (sigmadeg) and to assess the errors which may arise in present and planned altimeter sensors. Based on an analysis of the rough surface impulse response, the uncertainty between attitude angle andsigmadegasymmetry is found to cause height errors as large as 12 cm, depending on off-nadir angles and sea state. Additionally, the previously reported data in conjunction with computed facet backscatter are found to producesigmadegcharacteristics at large off-nadir angles which are in better agreement with experimental results than those predicted by physical optics Gaussian theory.     

一种新的海洋风场反演中风向模糊排除方法研究

本文给出了一种从ＳＡＳＳ测量的后向散射强度手数据中反演出大尺度海洋风场的新方法。计算结果与Ｐｅｔｅｈｅｒｙｃｈ等利用ＳＡＳＳ表面风分析的结果比较在风向上是吻合的，在风速上本文所得结果更宇海面赵实风速。上述结果说明本文所采用的多解排除对两波束散射计探测海面风场的反演是成功的。     

基于C-2PO模型和CMOD5.N地球物理模式函数的SAR风速反演性能评估

本文选取142幅RADARSAT-2全极化合成孔径雷达（SAR）影像，在没有入射角输入的情况下，首先利用C-2PO模型进行海面风速反演。随后，将同一时空下的ASCAT散射计风向作为初始风向，提取相应雷达入射角，利用地球物理模式函数（GMF） CMOD5.N对142幅SAR影像进行风速计算。反演结果与美国国家资料浮标中心海洋浮标风速数据对比，结果显示:CMOD5.N GMF和C-2PO模型均可反演出较高精确度的海面风速，其均方根误差分别为1.68 m/s和1.74 m/s。此外，研究发现，在低风速段，CMOD5.N GMF的风速反演精度要明显优于C-2PO模型。针对这一现象，本文以SAR系统成像机理为基础，以低风速SAR图像为具体案例，给出了3种造成这一现象的原因。     

中法海洋卫星散射计近海岸海面风场反演研究

中法海洋卫星散射计(CSCAT)使用扇形波束旋转扫描体制,能够以多角度测量同一海面的雷达后向散射系数,并具有空间分辨率较高的特点。这为近海岸海面风场反演提供了新的机遇。本文介绍了CSCAT近海岸海面风场处理的主要流程和关键技术。特别地,在风场反演之前,利用一种矩形窗算术平均的方法将L1B级的高分辨率条带数据组合平均到相应的风矢量单元中,从而实现近海岸风场反演的快速预处理。通过对比CSCAT、欧洲先进散射计(ASCAT)以及美国QuikSCAT的近海岸风场,发现CSCAT风场的质量在离岸40 km以外区域具有良好的一致性,而在离岸40 km以内显著恶化。分析表明,CSCAT近海岸区域风场统计特征恶化的原因可能是由潜在的海冰污染引起的。总体而言,CSCAT的近海岸风场与模式背景风场和浮标风场都具有良好的一致性。     

SASS measurements of theKu-band radar signature of the ocean

SeaSat-A Satellite Scatterometer (SASS) measurements of normalized radar cross section (NRCS) have been merged with high quality surface-wind fields based on in situ, to create a large data base of NRCS-wind signature data. These data are compared to the existing NRCS-wind model used by the SASS to infer winds. False-color maps of SASS NRCS and ocean winds from multiple orbits show important synoptic trends.     

Influence of the type of sea waves on the backscattered radar cross section at medium incidence angles

We consider the influence of the sea surface state on the backscattered radar cross section and the accuracy of the wind speed retrieval from the scatterometer data. We used a joint set of radars and buoys to determine the type of sea waves. Three types of sea waves were distinguished: developing wind waves, fully developed wind waves, and mixed sea. It is shown that the retrieval error of the near surface wind speed using a one-parameter algorithm is minimal in the case of fully developed wind waves. We compared these data with the results of radio-altimeter data analysis and showed that in both cases underestimation of the retrieval wind speed exists for developing wind waves and overestimation occurs for mixed sea. A variety of swell parameters (length of the dominating wave, swell height, swell age) significantly influence the backscattered radar cross section, leading to a growth in the mean square error of the retrieved wind speed during vertical sounding (radio-altimeter data), and only slightly influence the mean square error of the scatterometer data (medium incidence angles). It is necessary to include the information about the parameters of sea waves in the algorithms and take into account the regional wave properties to increase the accuracy of wind speed retrieval.     

Tower-based backscatter measurements of the sea

In September 1979, the radar scattering coefficient (sigmadeg) was measured at platform Noordwijk in the North Sea 10 km off the Dutch coast. This was done in conjunction with similar measurements by Dutch and French investigators as part of Project MARSEN (Marine Remote Sensing). Our measurements were made with vertical and horizontal polarizations, in the frequency baud 9-17 GHz, at incidence angles0deg - 70deg, with wind speeds from 2-22 m/s, and look directions upwind, downwind, and crosswind. This paper presents the scattering-coefficient variation with these radar and ocean parameters. In particular, the exponents for the windspeed response are compared with those from other investigators. Some of the exponents reported here are higher than reported previously, possibly because orthogonal regression was used rather than regression ofsigmadegversus windspeed.     

复合雷达后向散射模型与合成孔径雷达、散射计和高度计海面雷达后向散射观测的比较分析

海洋微波散射模型相比于以经验统计建立的地球物理模式函数具有不受特定微波频率限制的优势。组合布拉格散射模型和几何光学模型形成了复合雷达后向散射模型。利用南海北部气象浮标2014年海面风速风向实测值作为散射模型输入，分别比较了复合雷达后向散射模型与RADARSAT-2卫星C波段SAR、HY-2A卫星Ku波段微波散射计的海面后向散射系数，偏差分别为(?0.22±1.88) dB (SAR)、(0.33±2.71) dB (散射计VV极化）和(?1.35±2.88) dB (散射计HH极化)；以美国浮标数据中心(NDBC)浮标2011年10月1日至2014年9月30日共3年的海面风速、风向实测值作为散射模型输入，分别比较了复合雷达后向散射模型与Jason-2、HY-2A卫星Ku波段高度计海面后向散射系数，偏差分别为(1.01±1.15) dB和(1.12±1.29) dB。中等入射角和垂直入射下的卫星传感器后向散射系数观测值与复合雷达后向散射模型模拟值比较，具有不同的偏差，但具有相同的海面风速检验精度，均方根误差小于1.71 m/s。结果表明，复合雷达后向散射模型可模拟计算星载SAR、散射计和高度计观测条件下的海面雷达后向散射系数，且与CMOD5、NSCAT-2、高度计业务化海面风速反演的地球物理模式函数的计算结果具有一致性；复合雷达后向散射模型可用于微波遥感器的定标与检验、海面雷达后向散射的模拟。     

The SeaSat-A satellite scatterometer

This paper describes the methods used to develop performance requirements and design characteristics for the microwave scatterometer (SASS) ocean-surface wind sensor on the NASA SeaSat-A satellite. Wind vector measurement requirements from the SeaSat user community such as wind speed and direction accuracy, resolution cell size, grid spacing, and swath width formed the basis for defining instrument characteristics. The resulting scatterometer is designed for 14.6 GHz using four fan beam antennas to measure wind speed and direction over a 1000-km swath width with a resolution cell size50 times 50km. Results presented show scatterometer accuracy satisfies user requirements for wind speed from 4 m/s to greater than 24 m/s for the nominal SeaSat-A orbit of 790 km altitude,108deginclination, and 0.001 eccentricity.     

A study of remote sensing of sea-surface wind field with 8-12 GHz broad band radar scatterometer

The paper is devoted to the results of the study on sea-surface wind field remote sensing using 8-12 GHz broad band radar scatterometer. Principles and techniques of remote sensing with broad band scatterometer are described. Variations of microwave scattering coefficients on sea surface with different frequencies and incident angles at different polarization and wind velocity are given and the correlationship between scattering coefficients and wind speeds. The result shows that the research is valuable.lt provides data and basis for remote sensing of the sea-surface wind fields with broad band radar scatterometer.     

一种温度相关的HY-2A散射计地球物理模型函数

利用散射计测量海面后向散射系数, 并通过地球物理模型函数(geophysical model function, GMF)反演得到海面风场。目前散射计风场反演所采用的GMF一般只考虑雷达极化方式、雷达入射角、风速和相对风向对海面后向散射系数的影响, 而相关研究表明海表温度(sea surface temperature, SST)对Ku波段散射计风场反演具有不可忽略的影响。文章利用海洋二号A卫星散射计(Haiyang-2A Scatterometer, HY2A-SCAT)后向散射系数观测值、欧洲中期天气预报中心(European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, ECMWF )再分析风矢量和SST数据, 采用人工神经网络方法, 建立起一种SST相关的GMF (TNGMF)。对TNGMF进行分析后发现, 海面后向散射系数随着SST的增加而增加, 并且其增加幅度与雷达极化方式、风速有关。为了对比, 文章使用相同数据集和相同方法建立了不包含SST的GMF (NGMF), 将美国国家航天航空局散射计-2 (National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scatterometer-2, NSCAT2) GMF、TNGMF和NGMF分别用于HY2A-SCAT风场反演实验。试验结果表明, 采用NSCAT2 GMF、NGMF反演得到的风速在低温时系统性偏小, 在高温时系统性偏大; 而TNGMF可较好地纠正SST对风速偏差均值的影响, 从而提高反演风场质量。     

Radar backscatter measurements from Platform Noordwijk in the North Sea

Results from radar backscatter experiments conducted over the North Sea in Project Noordwijk in the years 1977, 1978, and 1979 are reported. For these measurements a short-rangeX-band FM/CW scatterometer was used. Data obtained were the average normalized backscattergamma(sigmadeg)of the sea as a function of grazing angle, windspeed, and look direction. The fading spectra and the autocorrelation function ofgamma(t)were also determined and compared with the output of the oceanographic sensors of the platform.     

多模式小卫星SAR机载挂飞试验的飞行路线规划与雷达参数设计

多模式小卫星SAR（synthetic aperture radar,合成孔径雷达）是一种搭载于小卫星平台的新体制雷达系统,它集SAR、散射计、高度计、波谱仪4种遥感器的优势于一身。它可以根据需求分时实现几种工作模式的切换,可兼顾对海洋目标和海洋动力环境的高精度测量。由于卫星发射存在诸多不确定因素,为了在卫星发射前对多模式小卫星SAR进行检验,本文对拟开展的机载挂飞试验进行了介绍。首先,介绍了拟开展的机载挂飞试验的等效性原则。接下来,介绍了各种工作模式试验、SAR/散射计联合反演试验、多视向SAR试验的飞行路线规划。之后,介绍了机载挂飞试验的雷达参数设计方法。最后,给出了各种工作模式的雷达参数设计结果。所设计的飞行路线和雷达参数可以为机载挂飞试验服务,并且实现了星载技术指标的准等效验证。通过小卫星SAR卫星组网可弥补目前SAR卫星时间分辨率低的缺点。     

Seasat altimeter sensor file algorithms

The Seasat altimeter is designed to measure three parameters important to oceanography: height of the spacecraft above the ocean surface (h), significant wave height (H_{1/3}), and ocean backscatter coefficient (sigmadeg) from which surface winds may be inferred. Since the measurement process is indirect, and the measurement environment is complicated by many factors affecting the instrument readings, corrections to the raw data are needed before they are used to compute geophysical parameters. These corrections are accomplished by the Seasat altimeter sensor file algorithms. The purpose of this paper is to describe these algorithms, why they are needed, how they are implemented, and their evaluation using in-flight data.     

主动式海洋微波遥感探测原理和应用

本文阐述了海洋微波遥感的几种主动式探测仪器：雷达高度计、表面等高线雷达、散射计、雷达海洋波谱计和合成孔径雷达的简单工作原理，并对它们在海洋学研究中的应用的优劣点进行了分析。应该明确的是：微波遥感对海洋学研究是至关重要的，它可以实现别的方法所不能实现的测量。它的结果更多地应用在海洋动力学的各个研究和应用方面。     

Evaluation of ENVISAT ASAR data for sea surface wind retrieval in Hong Kong coastal waters of China

The C-band wind speed retrieval models, CMOD4, CMOD - IFR2, and CMOD5 were applied to retrieval of sea surface wind speeds from ENVISAT （European environmental satellite） ASAR （advanced synthetic aperture radar） data in the coastal waters near Hong Kong during a period from October 2005 to July 2007. The retrieved wind speeds are evaluated by comparing with buoy measurements and the QuikSCAT （quick scatterometer） wind products. The results show that the CMOD4 model gives the best performance at wind speeds lower than 15 m/s. The correlation coefficients with buoy and QuikSCAT winds are 0.781 and 0.896, respectively. The root mean square errors are the same 1.74 m/s. Namely, the CMOD4 model is the best one for sea surface wind speed retrieval from ASAR data in the coastal waters near Hong Kong.