Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of chemical symbols
- List of mathematical symbols
- List of abbreviations and acronyms
- 1 Background
- 2 Ocean surface phenomena
- 3 Electromagnetic radiation
- 4 Atmospheric properties and radiative transfer
- 5 Reflection, transmission and absorption at the atmosphere/ocean interface
- 6 Ocean color
- 7 Infrared observations of sea surface temperature (SST)
- 8 Introduction to microwave imagers
- 9 Passive microwave observations of the atmosphere and ocean surface
- 10 Introduction to radars
- 11 Scatterometers
- 12 The altimeter
- 13 Imaging radars
- 14 Other instruments: the gravity missions, ICESat-1 and -2, CryoSat-2, SMOS and Aquarius/SAC-D
- Appendix
- References
- Index
- Plate Section
11 - Scatterometers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of chemical symbols
- List of mathematical symbols
- List of abbreviations and acronyms
- 1 Background
- 2 Ocean surface phenomena
- 3 Electromagnetic radiation
- 4 Atmospheric properties and radiative transfer
- 5 Reflection, transmission and absorption at the atmosphere/ocean interface
- 6 Ocean color
- 7 Infrared observations of sea surface temperature (SST)
- 8 Introduction to microwave imagers
- 9 Passive microwave observations of the atmosphere and ocean surface
- 10 Introduction to radars
- 11 Scatterometers
- 12 The altimeter
- 13 Imaging radars
- 14 Other instruments: the gravity missions, ICESat-1 and -2, CryoSat-2, SMOS and Aquarius/SAC-D
- Appendix
- References
- Index
- Plate Section
Summary
Introduction
Ocean winds drive the ocean currents, transfer gases, heat, moisture, energy and momentum between the atmosphere and ocean, and, through these processes, influence regional and global climate. In driving the large-scale ocean circulation and small-scale mixing, winds contribute to ocean ecosystems. Hurricanes, typhoons and winter mid-latitude storms present a threat to shipping and coastal regions (Atlas et al., 2011).
Surface winds are the largest source of momentum for the generation of surface waves and basin-scale ocean currents. The oceanic distribution of vector winds determines the height distribution and propagation direction of ocean swell, and allows prediction of the effect of this swell on ships, offshore structures and seacoasts. Because, in regions such as the Southern Hemisphere, surface observations of ocean winds by island weather stations, moored meteorological buoys and ships are sparse, without scatterometers, large areas of ocean would lack wind observations. Scatterometer data are particularly important for improvement of the forecast accuracy in such regions (Chelton et al., 2006). For numerical weather forecasts, Bi et al. (2011) show that the inclusion of these ocean winds leads to improvements in days 4 through 7 of the forecasts.
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- An Introduction to Ocean Remote Sensing , pp. 331 - 361Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
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