<title>Surface Winds From Sun-Glitter Measurements From A Spacecraft</title>

Abstract

The pattern of dancing highlights caused by the reflection of the sun from a roughened water surface, called the sun glitter pattern, has long been of interest to the romantically and esthetically inclined. It has also received scientific attention because of the evident relationship between the size of the glitter pattern and the roughness of the surface, leading to a number of suggestions for the exploitation of this phenomenon for remote sensing of sea state. The investigations to date have established the relationships among glitter pattern characteristics, surface roughness, and near-surface wind speeds, and have demonstrated the feasibility of making useful measurements from a spacecraft. This paper discusses the requirements for a glitter pattern sensor to be used on a sun-synchronous satellite and estimates its potential, both as to the range of applicability and the accuracy of deduced values of sea states and wind speeds.