Oceanic Wind and Balanced Pressure-Height Fields Derived from Satellite Measurements

Abstract

Seasat-A scatterometer system (SASS) measurements of wind speed and direction and GOES-2 satellite measurements of cloud motion directions were used to analyze the surface wind field over part of the northern Pacific Ocean for 17 July and 3 October 1978. Surface pressure fields were computed from the nondivergent SASS-derived wind velocity fields using the balance equation and were compared to the National Meteorological Center surface pressure fields. Agreement between the balanced pressure-height fields and National Meteorological Center pressure fields was good. The linear correlation coefficient between the two fields was 0.91 for 17 July, and 0.84 for 3 October 1978. These results indicate that the surface wind and pressure fields of the global oceans (excluding a narrow equatorial zone where the balance equation is invalid) can be determined with acceptable accuracy by using satellite measurements exclusively.