Extended Abstract (204K)15B.3
Q-Winds satellite hurricane wind retrievals and H*Wind comparisons
Pet Laupattarakasem, Univ. Central Florida, Orlando, FL; and W. L. Jones, C. C. Hennon, P. Black, J. Allard, and A. Harless
This paper presents a new hurricane ocean vector wind (OVW) product known as Q-Winds, which is derived from the SeaWinds scatterometer active/passive measurements on QuikSCAT. This product uses a unique scatterometer retrieval algorithm especially developed for tropical cyclones. SeaWinds (passive) Ku-band brightness temperatures infer the simultaneous and collocated atmospheric (rain) attenuation, which is used to correct the active (radar) ocean surface backscatter. Also, this algorithm incorporates a new geophysical model function, derived from both airborne and satellite sigma-0 measurements in hurricane conditions, to correct the retrieved wind speeds. SeaWinds OVW retrievals are presented for ten hurricane passes with near-simultaneous aircraft under flights with Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR) and GPS dropsondes surface wind measurements. Independent H*Wind surface OVW analyses are provided by the NOAA Hurricane Research Division; and these results are compared with Q-Winds and the standard SeaWinds Project L2B wind vector products.
Session 15B, Remote Sensing of Tropical Cyclones III: Satellite-Derived Ocean Surface Winds
Thursday, 1 May 2008, 1:15 PM-3:00 PM, Palms E
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