Wave Height Estimation and Validation Based on the UFS Mode Data of Gaofen-3 in South China Sea

The ultrafinestrip (UFS) of the Gaofen-3 (GF-3) satellite provides extensive ocean wave details due to the high spatial resolution of 3 m. In this article, a new empirical model is developed to estimate wave height from GF-3 UFS mode data in South China Sea (SCS). Traditional methods either have more input parameters or complex forms or complex transformations, and most of them depend on the visible wave pattern. The model has the advantages of fewer input parameters and unnecessary visual wave patterns. The wave height estimation model is developed based on the collated data pairs between GF-3 UFS data in horizontal-horizontal polarization and the ERA5 reanalysis dataset from 2018 to 2021. The datasets are randomly divided into two groups. One group (about 80%) is used to develop the empirical relation; the other group (about 20%) and some altimeter data are used for significant wave height (SWH) verification. The comparison of the model data with the remaining ERA5 (ECMWF Reanalysis v5) data and the altimeter shows that the root-mean-square error is 0.41 and 0.47 m, the scatter index is 29.24% and 29.79%, and the correlation coefficient is 0.90 and 0.82, respectively. These statistical indices suggest that the developed model is suitable for SWH retrievals. So, the study results indicate that the GF-3 UFS mode data provide valuable information about wave conditions in the SCS.