QuikSCAT geophysical model function for tropical cyclones andapplication to Hurricane Floyd
Yueh, S.H.; Stiles, B.W.; Wu-Yang Tsai; Hua Hu; Liu, W.T.
Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on
Volume 39, Issue 12, Dec 2001 Page(s):2601 - 2612
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/36.974995
Summary:The QuikSCAT radar measurements of several tropical cyclones in
1999 have been studied to develop the geophysical model function (GMF)
of Ku-band radar σ0 values (normalized radar cross
section) for extreme high wind conditions. To account for the effects of
precipitation, the authors analyze the co-located rain rates from the
Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) and propose the rain rate as a
parameter of the GMF. The analysis indicates the deficiency of the
NSCAT2 GMF developed for the NASA scatterometer, which overestimates the
ocean σ0 for tropical cyclones and ignores the
influence of rain. It is suggested that the QuikSCAT σ0
is sensitive to the wind speed of up to about 40-50 m s-1.
The authors introduce modifications to the NSCAT2 GMF and apply the
modified GMF to the QuikSCAT observations of Hurricane Floyd. The
QuikSCAT wind estimates for Hurricane Floyd in 1999 was improved with
the maximum wind speed reaching above 60 m s-1. The authors
perform an error analysis by comparing the QuikSCAT winds with the
analyses fields from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) Hurricane Research Division (HRD). The reasonable agreement
between the improved QuikSCAT winds and the HRD analyses supports the
applications of scatterometer wind retrievals for hurricanes
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