Data Quality Evaluation of Sentinel-1 and GF-3 SAR for Wind Field Inversion

Sheng Guo,Xiaojun Qu,Yong Wan,Ligang Li,Yongshou Dai

doi:10.3390/rs13183723

Sheng Guo, Xiaojun Qu + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13183723

Copy DOI

Journal: Remote Sensing	Publication Date: Sep 17, 2021
Citations: 5	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: China University of Petroleum, East China

Abstract

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is an important means to observe the sea surface wind field. Sentinel-1 and GF-3 are located on orbit SAR satellites, but the SAR data quality of these two satellites has not been evaluated and compared at present. This paper mainly studies the data quality of Sentinel-1 and GF-3 SAR satellites used in wind field inversion. In this study, Sentinel-1 SAR data and GF-3 SAR data located in Malacca Strait, Hormuz Strait and the east and west coasts of the United States are selected to invert wind fields using the C-band model 5.N (CMOD5.N). Compared with reanalysis data called ERA5, the root mean squared error (RMSE) of the Sentinel-1 inversion results is 1.66 m/s, 1.37 m/s and 1.49 m/s in three intervals of 0~5 m/s, 5~10 m/s and above 10 m/s, respectively; the RMSE of GF-3 inversion results is 1.63 m/s, 1.45 m/s and 1.87 m/s in three intervals of 0~5 m/s, 5~10 m/s and above 10 m/s, respectively. Based on the data of Sentinel-1 and GF-3 located on the east and west coasts of the United States, CMOD5.N is used to invert the wind field. Compared with the buoy data, the RMSE of the Sentinel-1 inversion results is 1.20 m/s, and the RMSE of the GF-3 inversion results is 1.48 m/s. The results show that both Sentinel-1 SAR data and GF-3 SAR data are suitable for wind field inversion, but the wind field inverted by Sentinel-1 SAR data is slightly better than GF-3 SAR data. When applied to wind field inversion, the data quality of Sentinel-1 SAR is slightly better than the data quality of GF-3 SAR. The SAR data quality of GF-3 has achieved a world-leading level.

Highlights

The sea surface wind field is one of the important ocean wave dynamic processes, and has a very significant impact on the generation of ocean waves and the movement of ocean currents [1], as well as a very significant physical significance in the field of marine meteorology
The results show that both Sentinel-1 Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data and GF-3 SAR data are suitable for wind field inversion, but the wind field inverted by Sentinel-1 SAR
The advantages and disadvantages of the wind field inverted by Sentinel-1 SAR data and GF-3 SAR data under different wind speeds are compared to evaluate the quality of the two satellites

Summary

Introduction

The sea surface wind field is one of the important ocean wave dynamic processes, and has a very significant impact on the generation of ocean waves and the movement of ocean currents [1], as well as a very significant physical significance in the field of marine meteorology. The observation of the sea surface wind field is of great significance to maritime navigation, military defense, and other aspects. The observation of the sea surface wind field is extremely significant. The observation of the sea surface wind field is originally conducted by using meteorological stations, anemometer towers, buoys, ships and other on-site observation methods. These methods can obtain accurate sea surface wind field information, but there are some problems: (1) The range of information obtained by meteorological stations, anemometer towers, buoys and other methods is very limited. Only offshore wind field information can be obtained These methods cannot obtain large-area wind field information;

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion