The Legacy of Scatterometers: Review of applications and perspective

A scatterometer, as an active microwave radar sensor, measures the return of radar waves in the form of a backscatter coefficient after reflection or scattering from Earth’s surface. The primary objective of the scatterometer is to record the surface-wind vector observations over the ocean for the study of the climate, monitoring, the forecasting of cyclones/hurricanes, and air–sea interactions. Since its first launch in 1978, many technical improvements have been made to the scatterometer due to its potential for all-weather global-level monitoring. The scatterometer has found many emerging applications in different scientific domains, such as cryosphere, hydrology, agriculture, and climate studies, with the continuous development of methods and models.