Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS): All Weather Observations of Surface Winds in Tropical Cyclones and Hurricanes

CYGNSS is a NASA Earth Venture 2 mission led by the University of Michigan and designed to use global positioning system technology to observe surface wind speeds in the clear and raining regions of tropical cyclones. Upon launch in late 2016, it will consist of a constellation of eight micro-satellites, each of which observe reflected GPS signals at up to four surface specular points simultaneously. The orbit of the CYGNSS constellation will range over +/- 35 degrees latitude with a median 4 hour revisit time, leading to a substantially higher sampling of TC inner core regions compared to previous ocean wind scatterometers. Surface wind information obtained from the CYGNSS mission has the potential to advance our fundamental understanding of tropical cyclone processes, and lead to improvements in forecasts of hurricane track and intensity.