TDS-1 GNSS reflectometry wind geophysical model function response to GPS block types

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ABSTRACT This paper presents the TDS-1 GNSS reflectometry wind Geophysical Model Function (GMF) response to GPS block types. The observables were extracted from Delay Doppler Maps (DDMs) after taking the receiver antenna gains effects and GNSS-R geometry effects into account. Since the DDM is affected by GPS EffectiveIsotropic Radiated Power (EIRP), we first investigate the sensitivity of observables to the GPS block. Additionally, the observables at high SNRs are more sensitive to wind speed, but the spatial coverage at high signal to noise ratios (SNRs) is lower, while DDMs at low SNRs have the opposite characteristics. To balance the accuracy and spatial coverage, the DDM datasets are divided into two parts: high SNR (>0 dB) and low SNR (>−10 dB and ≤0 dB) to develop wind GMF. Then, the influences of GPS block on wind speed retrieval both at high and low SNR is analyzed. Results show that the block types have impacts on wind GMF and the use of a prior GPS block can contribute to a better wind speed retrieval both at high and low SNR. Compared with ASCAT, the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) value of wind speed retrieval at high and low SNR are 2.19 m/s and 3.13 m/s, respectively, when all TDS data are processed without distinguishing GPS block types. However, if the TDS data are separately processed and used to develop wind GMF through different blocks, both the accuracy and correlation coefficient can be improved to some extent. Finally, the influence of significant height of the swell (Hs) on SNR observables is analyzed, and it is demonstrated that there is no obvious linear or nonlinear relationship between them.