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Calibrating Seawinds And Quikscat Scatterometers Using Natural Land Targets, David G. Long, Lucas B. Kunz
Calibrating Seawinds And Quikscat Scatterometers Using Natural Land Targets, David G. Long, Lucas B. Kunz
Faculty Publications
The SeaWinds-on-QuikSCAT (QuikSCAT) and SeaWinds-on-ADEOS-2 (SeaWinds) scatterometers measure the normalized radar backscatter (O) 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 O for selected regions of the Amazon rainforest and the Sahara Desert. It is shown that the two sensors …