Active/passive microwave method for sea surface temperature estimation

A nonlinear least square estimator is used for estimating the sea surface temperature based on a quadratic criterion of the difference between the microwave measurements and physical microwave model predictions. This microwave model, based on a two-scale model to account for scattering by small scale irregularities superimposed on large undulations, is used to calculate the microwave scattering cross section and brightness temperature from the water surface. Surface foams are incorporated by estimating the fractional surface area covered by foam as a function of the wind speed and the lower atmospheric stability. The foam emissivity is a function of frequency and incident angle, sea surface temperature and polarization