Impact of the dual-frequency scatterometer on NOAA operations

In an effort to establish an operational ocean surface vector wind satellite capability, NOAA has been exploring the possibility of flying a U.S. scatterometer on board the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency´s (JAXA´s) Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM) satellite series. The Dual Frequency Scatterometer (DFS) has been designed by NASA´s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and proposed as a baseline scatterometer onboard the GCOM-W2 satellite. This study documents the impact that the DFS instrument will have on different National Weather Service (NWS) weather forecasting and warning products and services. With a 50% improvement in the accuracy of wind estimates in high wind regimes, a 20% improvement in resolution and its ability to see through rain, DFS will address NWS´s operational OSVW requirements significantly better than a QuikSCAT-like instrument. It is expected that DFS data will have a medium to high impact for all marine weather and tropical cyclone analysis and warning applications, real time diagnostics and climatological wind applications for which wind data are necessary.