While instruments on buoys and ships do provide measurments of the surface wind vectors, their coverage is insufficient to provide a global wind field map. On the other hand, satellite based sensors can provide global coverage in a reasonable time period. Additionally, sensors operating at microwave frequencies can measure the surface wind vector during nighttime and cloudy conditions, and therefore, greatly increasing the quantity of surface observations.
Both active (radar) and passive (radiometer) microwave sensors have been shown capable of determining the ocean surface wind speed, with active microwave instruments being used to derive the wind direction. Recently, radiometer systems have been shown capable of determining the wind direction using polarimetric and multi-look observations. Development and refinement of instrumentation and algorithms for ocean surface wind retrieval is an ongoing process being conducted in both the active and passive areas.
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For the
global wind field map derived from SSM/I measurements
Paul.S.Chang@noaa.gov Paul Chang
