Comparison of Wind Speed from Quikscat, Ascat, Windsat, Era-Interim Reanalysis and Ship Measurements Over the China Sea

Abstract

In this paper, we performed a comparison of wind speeds from the Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT), the MetOp-A Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT), the WindSat Polarimetric Radiometer (WindSat) and ERA-Interim reanalysis using in situ ship measurements. The comparison was made over the China Sea during a 12-month period from January to December in 2008. The mean bias and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) were calculated for the matchup dataset. The ASCAT wind speed product was observed more accurate and suitable for the China Sea during the research period with a relatively lower mean bias and RMSE. We also analyzed the accuracy of surface winds in different wind speed ranges. The statistical results show that the wind speeds of all products agree well in the ranges from 5m/s to 10m/s. However, underestimation at high wind speeds $(> 15\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s})$ and overestimation at low wind speeds $( have been observed. Furthermore, the rain effects on the scattermeter wind measurements were considered, and ASCAT shows slightly better results and less affected by rain because of its C-band configuration compared with Ku-band QSCAT.