Asymmetric Features of Oceanic Microwave Brightness Temperature in HighSurface Wind Speed Condition

Abstract

Asymmetric features of oceanic brightness temperature from spaceborne microwave imagers in high surface wind speed conditions were investigated with two kinds of collocated data. The first is simultaneous measurements of microwave brightness temperatures and surface wind vectors from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) and SeaWinds on Advanced Earth Observing Satellite II. The second is microwave brightness temperature observations (AMSR2 and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder) and surface wind vectors in the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts numerical weather prediction model. Both collocated data sets showed that the vertical-polarized and the horizontal-polarized microwave brightness temperature have out-of-phase asymmetric features in terms of relative wind direction (RWD) at high surface wind speeds. Furthermore, different asymmetric features were found for the northern and Southern Hemispheres and for ascending and descending satellite orbits. Although similar asymmetric features can be found in other microwave imager studies, the causes of the asymmetry have not been fully investigated. To investigate the cause of the asymmetry, the observation frequency regarding air–sea temperature difference was examined in upwind, downwind, and crosswind cases. Two important factors contribute to the asymmetry. First, the observations from inclined polar orbit satellites provide different samplings on atmospheric stability in terms of the RWD. Second, the oceanic microwave brightness temperatures have negative correlations with atmospheric stability at high surface wind speeds. The out-of-phase asymmetry is closely related with atmospheric stability, and it appears under a high-surface-wind-speed condition.