OCEAN SURFACE WIND-SPEED MEASUREMENTS OF THE SPECIAL SENSOR MICROWAVE IMAGER (SSM/I)

As part of a subcontract with Hughes Aircraft, the manufacturer of the Defense Meteorological Space Program (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I). an operational wind speed algurithm was developed by Environmental Research & Technulogy Inc. (ERT, recently renamed ENSR). The ERT algorithm is based on the “D-matrix” approach which seeks a linear relationship between measured SSM/I brightness temperatures and environmental parameters. D-matrix performance in the low-to-medium wind speed range was validated at the University of Massachusetts by comparing algorithm-derived wind speeds with near-simultaneous and co-located measurements made by the anemometers of of -shore ocean buuys maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmuspheric Administration (NOAA). Results indicate that for approximately 85% of the time, the D-matrix-retrieved winds will have an accuracy better than the DMSP goal of ±2 m/s. For the remaining 15% of the time, the scene will be rain-fagged and retrieval accuracies will be worse than ±;2 m/s. © 1990 IEEE