Waveheight and wind speed measurements from the SEASAT radar altimeter

Journal Article · Fri Apr 30 04:00:00 EDT 1982 · J. Geophys. Res.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/JC087iC05p03254· OSTI ID:5385835

Fedor, L S; Brown, G S

Comparisons between the SEASAT radar altimeter inferred estimates of significant waveheight (SWH) and wind speed with buoy measurements for near overflights are presented. Details of the 'calibration' of SEASAT's measurement of sigma/sup 0/(0/sup 0/) against those made by the GEOS-3 radar altimeter are presented. The 'onboard' estimate of SWH is shown to be biased high by 0.5 m for SWH>2 m. Comparison of buoy measurements of SWH with altimeter waveform data processed by using the Fedor algorithm for 51 cases show a mean difference of 0.07 m with a standard deviation of 0.29 m over the range of 0.5--5 m SWH. The SEASAT inferred estimates of sigma/sup 0/(0/sup 0/) are biased highly by 1.6 dB relative to GEOS-3 data. For 87 corrected comparisons with buoy measurements of wind speed, the mean difference is -0.25 m/s, and the standard deviation of the difference is 1.6 m/s over the range of 1--10 m/s wind speed. The numbers are very similar to GEOS-3 data comparisons and thus provide a second corroboration of the waveheight and wind speed measurement capability of a short pulse spaceborne radar altimeter.

• Research Organization: NOAA/ERL/Wave Propagation Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado 80303
• OSTI ID: 5385835
• Journal Information: J. Geophys. Res.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Geophys. Res.; (United States) Vol. 87:5; ISSN JGREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580500* -- Oceanography-- (1980-1989)
ACCURACY
ALTIMETERS
AMPLITUDES
BUOYS
CALIBRATION
GRAVITY WAVES
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
REMOTE SENSING
SATELLITES
SEASAT SATELLITES
WATER WAVES
WAVE FORMS
WIND