Effect of precipitation on Ku-band scatterometer ocean wind measurements

The Wind retrievals produced from microwave scatterometer are affected by the presence of rain. Quantifying the effect of rain on scatterometer wind measurements is important for increasing the applications of satellite scatterometry under extreme weather conditions such as those found in tropical storms and hurricanes/typhoons. This paper presents preliminary results of precipitation effect on microwave scatterometry wind estimates at Ku band. The results show that microwave scatterometer underestimates the wind speed by up to 10 m/s for rain rate condition of 12 mm/hr and wind speed condition of 25 to 30 m/s for Ku bands, and up to 20 m/s when rain rate is higher than 16 mm/hr.OceanographyRemote SensingEICPCI-S(ISTP)