Calibrating SeaWinds and QuikSCAT scatterometers using natural land targets

SeaWinds-on-ADEOS-2 (SeaWinds) scatterometers measure the normalized radar backscatter ( ) of the earth’s surface. These identical radar sensors are on different spaceborne platforms in similar orbits. QuikSCAT and SeaWinds data are used to infer near-surface wind vectors, polar sea-ice extent, pola...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lukas B. Kunz, Student Member, David G. Long, Senior Member
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2005
Subjects:
Sea ice
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.391.7269
http://www.mers.byu.edu/long/papers/GRSL2005AprKunz.pdf
Description
Summary:SeaWinds-on-ADEOS-2 (SeaWinds) scatterometers measure the normalized radar backscatter ( ) of the earth’s surface. These identical radar sensors are on different spaceborne platforms in similar orbits. QuikSCAT and SeaWinds data are used to infer near-surface wind vectors, polar sea-ice extent, polar-ice melt events, etc. In order to verify the relative calibration of these sensors, a simple cross calibration based on land backscatter measurements is performed. A first-order polynomial model is used to remove the incidence angle dependence of for selected regions of the Amazon rainforest and the Sahara Desert. It is shown that the two sensors are well-calibrated to each other and require no bias corrections. Additionally, evidence of a diurnal cycle in the Amazon rainforest backscatter is given. Index Terms—Amazon forest, calibration, QuikSCAT, radar cross section, SeaWinds.

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