Satellite Velocity Correction Method of Ocean Current Retrieval for a Spaceborne Doppler Scatterometer

Abstract

For a spaceborne pencil-beam rotating Doppler scatterometer, its precision in measuring the ocean surface motion depends on the Doppler centroid of the received signals. The Doppler centroid is determined by the relative motion between the scatterometer and the ocean surface. This relative motion includes contributions from satellite velocity, the phase velocity of resonant Bragg waves, the orbital motions of ocean waves, and the ocean surface current. Subtracting the contribution of the satellite platform velocity from the complex Doppler information is important for the application of a spaceborne Doppler scatterometer in ocean surface current retrieval. In this research, we propose a method for the platform velocity correction influenced by the Doppler centroid offset and analyze the accuracy of this correction method. The method is based on the echoed signal model of a Doppler scatterometer. Our results show that the offset could lead to a measurement offset of up to 0.02 m/s when the beam width was 0.3°. For a 0.6° beam width, the maximum offset was 0.07 m/s. Thus, with the high accuracy of the current spaceborne sensors’ measurement, the offset can be accurately eliminated. In future applications and data processing algorithms, this effect should be considered.