High quality wind retrievals for hurricanes Isabel and Fabian using the SeaWinds scatterometer

Hurricanes Isabel and Fabian offer an unprecedented look at tropical cyclones. With the availability of two identical instruments, temporal sampling was as frequent as 6-12 hours. Utilizing the SeaWinds scatterometers´ ability to make simultaneous active and passive measurements, high quality wind and rain retrievals were performed for 8 storm passes. Passive rain estimates are used to quantify both the attenuating and scattering effects of precipitation, which can then be used to correct the active wind measurements. The high resolution of the retrievals allows for feature identification, while a binary rain mask removes pixels too contaminated for wind speed retrieval. Wind results compare well with surface models produced by the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA, and rain rates show great spatial similarity to SSM/I F13 and F15 data sets.