Towards Consistent Wind Observations from C- and KU-Band Scatterometers

In the context of the ocean surface vector wind virtual constellation, the combined wind products from the ongoing operational scatterometers will unprecedentedly increase the spatial and temporal coverage of remote sensing winds, and ease the development of gap-free sea surface wind data of high quality and high spatial/temporal resolution for a variety of applications, including a better marine forecasting and monitoring. However, systematic differences do exist in the wind products derived from different scatterometers, which may result in detrimental impacts in these applications. Therefore, the difference between the retrieved winds from C- and Ku-band scatterometers is further explored in this paper. In particular, sea surface temperature (SST) effects, quality control and high wind sensitivity of both C- and Ku-band scatterometers are analyzed, with the objective to better understand the sources of the inconsistencies, and to provide the wind users with support and recommendations in terms of wind applications.