Data processing and airborne experiment results analysis of a fully polarized scatterometer

Scatterometers are key instruments for remotely sensing of ocean surface winds. The Ku-band airborne full polarized scatterometer (AFPSCAT) of the Airborne Remote Sensing System (ARSS) was developed mainly for this application by the Key Laboratory of Microwave Remote Sensing in National Space Science Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Its rotating fan-beam antenna is unique among existed fully polarized scatterometers for remote sensing, which is a special type of scatterometer capable of collecting the co-polarized and cross-polarized backscattering as well as providing complex correlation of the scattering matrix. An initial test of this instrument and its potential for measuring wind field was done by flying with a plane over the Yellow Sea area in China. In this paper, the instrument was depicted, and then the experiment was described as well as data processing progress. Finally results were analyzed and conclusions were drawn that the instrument worked well for wind retrieving and further work needed to be done before its forward applications.