Rain effects on ASCAT retrieved winds

In this study, the rain impact on the ASCAT operational Level 2 retrieved wind quality and the effectiveness of the quality control (QC) are investigated. It is shown that ASCAT is much less affected by direct rain effects, such as ocean splashing, but effects of increased wind variability appear to dominate. The operational QC proves to be effective in screening these artifacts, but at the expense of valuable winds. An image processing method, known as the singularity analysis, is proposed in this study to complement the current QC, and its potential is illustrated.