ASCAT Scatterometer Ocean Calibration

Author

Verspeek, Jeroen ; Stoffelen, Ad ; Portabella, Marcos ; Verhoef, Anton ; Vogelzang, Jur

Author_Institution

KNMI, De Bilt

Volume

5

fYear

2008

fDate

7-11 July 2008

Abstract

A new scatterometer, the so-called Advanced scatterometer (ASCAT), onboard MetOp-A satellite was successfully launched on October 19 2006. During the commissioning phase one of the main goals is to accurately calibrate the instrument. The radar backscatter has been calibrated using three ground-based transponders in February 2008. Calibration of the ASCAT retrieved winds over the ocean is done by comparing the backscatter measurement with backscatter values derived from collocated NWP winds. Using calibration corrections, ASCAT winds are produced routinely at KNMI since March 2007 as the first MetOp-A geophysical product. Ocean calibration results and scatterometer wind speed statistics show that the Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (OSISAF) wind product is of high quality.

Keywords

atmospheric measuring apparatus; backscatter; calibration; oceanographic techniques; remote sensing by radar; wind; ASCAT ocean calibration; ASCAT wind; Advanced scatterometer; MetOp-A satellite; NWP wind; Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility; commissioning phase; ground-based transponder; radar backscatter; scatterometer wind speed statistics; Backscatter; Calibration; Geophysical measurements; Instruments; Oceans; Radar measurements; Satellites; Sea measurements; Spaceborne radar; Transponders; ASCAT; calibration; ocean; scatterometer; wind;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2008. IGARSS 2008. IEEE International

Conference_Location

Boston, MA

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2807-6

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-2808-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2008.4780074

Filename

4780074