A relationship between atmospheric rain reflectivity and elevation variance due to drop impact on the sea surface

The additional surface roughness created by drops impacting the sea surface can bias wind speed estimates obtained from satellite scatterometric measurements. The additional roughness essentially depends on the rain content in very large drops. The estimate of this contribution will be highly depend...

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Published inOceans 2003. Celebrating the Past ... Teaming Toward the Future (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37492) Vol. 1; pp. 528 - 531 Vol.1
Main Authors Craeye, C., Sobieski, P., Bliven, L.F.
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 2003
Subjects
Atmospheric measurements
Radar measurements
Rain
Reflectivity
Rough surfaces
Satellites
Sea measurements
Sea surface
Surface roughness
Wind speed
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Summary:The additional surface roughness created by drops impacting the sea surface can bias wind speed estimates obtained from satellite scatterometric measurements. The additional roughness essentially depends on the rain content in very large drops. The estimate of this contribution will be highly dependent on the model chosen for the drop size distribution. However, it has been observed that the reflectivity of the drops falling in the atmosphere has a drop-size dependence that is very similar to that of the surface roughness induced by rain. This paper shows how reflectivity data can be used to improve the estimate of the elevation variance resulting from drop impact.
ISBN:0933957300
9780933957305
DOI:10.1109/OCEANS.2003.178634