Abstract
Ocean surface whitecaps manifest surface wave breaking. Most of the whitecap data reported in the literature are based on optical observations through photographic or video recording. The air in whitecaps modifies the dielectric properties of microwave emissions and scattering. Therefore, whitecap information is intrinsic to microwave signals. This paper discusses a method to retrieve the ocean surface whitecap coverage from microwave radiometer signals.
Highlights
Observations of whitecaps have traditionally been conducted with optical sensing using photographs or video recording (e.g., [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14] and references therein)
Whitecap contribution is an important element in the microwave radiometer signal
Two roughness waves) and Theunder roughness component the dominant onemajor over a components, wide range of wind speeds,(surface so retrieving whitecap information from microwave radiometer measurements requires an accurate accounting of foam, contribute to the microwave radiometer signal from the ocean surface
Summary
Observations of whitecaps have traditionally been conducted with optical sensing using photographs or video recording (e.g., [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14] and references therein). Spaceborne microwave radiometer measurements offer a great opportunity to obtain whitecap information in a much broader range of wind and wave conditions, as well as to expand the geographic coverage throughout the global ocean [16,17,18,19,20,21]. This paper presents a brief description of whitecap retrieval from spaceborne microwave radiometers. The details of retrieving whitecap coverage from microwave radiometer signals have been published in [21].
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