ERS Scatterometer Ambiguity Removal Scheme Comparison

Scatterometers provide ambiguous winds and ambiguity removal (AR) schemes exist to select a unique solution from the set of ambiguous wind vectors based on spatial filtering constraints. Several of such AR schemes have been developed in the past and based on subjective arguments several of these schemes are in routine use. Here we present an objective method to compare AR schemes. We consider different AR schemes for scatterometer data, compare them for different wind speed regimes, geographical region, and dynamical cases, in order to provide both an objective and subjective judgment of their relative merits. We find that AR schemes are not particularly successful, particularly not in the tropical region. Based on the different characteristics of the schemes and their varying performances in different cases, we make recommendations on AR for scatterometer data in order to improve its success rate.