Tropical Cyclone Geophysical Model Function for ocean surface wind retrievals from NASA Scatterometer measurements at high wind speeds

Describes a hybrid model function, denoted as Tropical Cyclone Geophysical Model Function (TCGMF) that was derived from the NSCAT1b model function and airborne KUSCAT scatterometer measurements during tropical cyclones. At higher wind speeds, TCGMF assigns lower backscatter values to a given wind vector; therefore compared to other model functions, its use results in higher winds. TCGMF was used for wind retrieval from the NASA Scatterometer measurements during several high-wind events (tropical cyclones). When compared to numerical models, results show that wind speeds retrieved using the TCGMF agree better than do those from other scatterometer model functions for model winds >20 m/s