Corrections to the seawinds scatterometer wind vectors by removing the effects of rain from the NRCS

A method of correcting the errors caused by rain, to the normalized radar cross section measured by spaceborne scatterometers is presented. The simultaneous, collocated measurements of the vertical precipitation profile by the TRMM and AMSR passive radiometers are converted into reflectivity and attenuation to develop a method for removing the effects of rain backscatter and signal attenuation from the total signal received at the satellite. A mathematical model has been developed, which represents the principal electromagnetic mechanisms of K_u-band attenuation and scattering, using the polarization and illumination details for this scatterometer. The rain-impact NRCS is also considered. The amount of correction to the L2A data product values depends on the wind speed, rainrate and polarization.