An L-Band Ocean Geophysical Model Function Derived From PALSAR

Abstract

This paper examines L-band normalized radar cross section (NRCS) dependence on ocean surface wind. More than 90 000 match-ups, each consisting of the L-band HH NRCS, incidence angles, wind speeds, and wind directions, were collected from the Phased-Array L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) and scatterometer wind vectors. Based on the match-ups, the L-band HH NRCS dependence on incidence angle and wind vector is modeled for 0-20-m/s wind speeds and 17deg-43deg incidence angles. The derived relation indicates that the wind sensitivity of the L-band NRCS is less than that of the C-band at moderate winds and large incidence angles, whereas comparable at stronger winds ((>10 m/s) and small incidence angles. The upwind-crosswind difference is amplified in the 10-15-m/s range followed by an almost zero amplitude from 4 to 8 m/s, which represents a clear phase shift with the C-band VV and Ku-band HH models. Wind speeds are then estimated from the match-ups, based on the derived model function. A comparison with the reference scatterometer winds reveals a 0.05-m/s bias and a 1.85-m/s root mean square error, where crosswind data give rise to large errors due to low wind sensitivity at wind speeds of around 10 m/s, particularly at large incidence angles. The L-band NRCS behavior in strong winds (>20 m/s), at which the C-band is saturated, was not determined in the current model due to the limited number of the match-ups.