Abstract
Abstract. In this paper, X-band COSMO-SkyMed© synthetic aperture radar (SAR) wind field retrieval is investigated, and the obtained data are used to force a coastal ocean circulation model. The SAR data set consists of 60 X-band Level 1B Multi-Look Ground Detected ScanSAR Huge Region COSMO-SkyMed© SAR data, gathered in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea during the summer and winter seasons of 2010. The SAR-based wind vector field estimation is accomplished by resolving both the SAR-based wind speed and wind direction retrieval problems independently. The sea surface wind speed is retrieved by means of a SAR wind speed algorithm based on the azimuth cut-off procedure, while the sea surface wind direction is provided by means of a SAR wind direction algorithm based on the discrete wavelet transform multi-resolution analysis. The obtained wind fields are compared with ground truth data provided by both ASCAT scatterometer and ECMWF model wind fields. SAR-derived wind vector fields and ECMWF model wind data are used to construct a blended wind product regularly sampled in both space and time, which is then used to force a coastal circulation model of a southern Tyrrhenian coastal area to simulate wind-driven circulation processes. The modeling results show that X-band COSMO-SkyMed© SAR data can be valuable in providing effective wind fields for coastal circulation modeling.
Highlights
Accurate and appropriate measurements of the wind vector field over the sea surface are of great relevance in the oceanographic, meteorological and climatic research, and for the improvement of short-term forecast and warning (Janssen, 2004)
Some significant experimental results are presented, which are relevant to the sea surface wind vector field estimation over X-band VV-polarized Level 1B DGM ScanSAR Huge Region COSMO-SkyMed© synthetic aperture radar (SAR) measurements and their subsequent comparison with both Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) scatterometer and ECMWF model wind fields
It can be noted that non-negligible differences in terms of sea surface wind speed are present along the coastal area of SAR image domain, for both the ASCAT scatterometer and the ECMWF model ground truth wind speed
Summary
Accurate and appropriate measurements of the wind vector field over the sea surface are of great relevance in the oceanographic, meteorological and climatic research, and for the improvement of short-term forecast and warning (Janssen, 2004). Classical SAR-based wind field retrieval techniques are based on the use of a scatterometer-derived GMF approach (Horstmann et al, 2003; Jackson and Apel, 2004; Migliaccio and Reppucci, 2006) They provide the wind speed estimation at sea when both well-calibrated sea surface NRCS measurements and a priori knowledge of wind direction information are provided, together with the availability of a tailored GMF accounting for both sensor parameters and sea state conditions (Horstmann et al, 2003; Jackson end Apel, 2004; Migliaccio and Reppucci, 2006).
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