An Improved Asymmetric Hurricane Parametric Model Based on Cross-Polarization SAR Observations

Abstract

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has been proven to be a useful tool in monitoring hurricane structure and intensity. By far, SAR is the most promising spaceborne sensor to obtain high-resolution hurricane wind field on the ocean surface. In this article, an improved asymmetric hurricane parametric (IMAHP) model has been proposed to reconstruct the asymmetric wind speed, where the high-resolution cross-polarization SAR imagery is used to determine the value of model parameters. Compared with other models, the new model can better reconstruct hurricane wind speed with a more concise model function. For verification, taking SAR-retrieved wind speed as a reference, the root-mean-square error and bias of the wind speed estimated by the IMAHP model are 1.86 m/s, 1.89 m/s for Hurricane Arthur (2014), 2.01 m/s, 1.77 m/s for Iselle (2014), and 1.99 m/s, 1.74 m/s for Norbert (2014), respectively. Finally, comparisons with airborne stepped-frequency microwave radiometer and dropwindsondes measurements show that the wind speed simulated by the IMAHP model is close to these measurements.