A correlation study of wind speed as measured by the Special Sensor Microwave Imager and the Geosat Altimeter.

Abstract

Wind speed data is routinely acquired at the FLEET NUMERICAL OCEANOGRAPHIC CENTER (FNOC) in near real time from the SPECIAL SENSOR MICROWAVE/IMAGER (SSM/I), on board the DEFENSE METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITE PROGRAM (DMSP) satellite and the RADAR ALTIMETER on board the GEOSAT satellite. A correlation study is made of the SSM/I and ALTIMETER wind speed data using five data sets from areas where the DMSP satellite had crossed within 1.1 hours of the GEOSAT satellite. Regions of ocean where the atmosphere was free of cloud water and precipitation have a high correlation of approximately 0.995, while areas with precipitation and cloud water have very poor correlation. Areas of high water vapor content do not appear to adversely affect the high correlation between the SSM/I and ALTIMETER measured wind speeds.