Understanding the effects of rain on radar altimeter waveforms

Computer Science – Performance

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

For the past 20 years, altimeters have been used for observing the oceans, deriving the sea surface height, significant wave height and backscattered power (the latter being related to the wind speed). In recent years, the quality of the observations has increased remarkably, with the improved tracking and orbits of the Topex altimeter, and its operation simultaneously at two frequencies. However throughout all this time, the presence of atmospheric liquid water, whether as clouds or rain, has been found to detract seriously from the performance of the altimeter, with suspect data being discarded on a combination of blunder point tests and radiometrically-derived rain flags. We examine the waveforms (returns from the sea surface) for the Topex altimeter, illustrating the effect of an approaching rain cell and showing how the derived geophysical variables are affected. Comparisons are made between observed and simulated waveforms. Further, using the additional C-band return pulses, methods are presented for deriving realistic wind and wave height profiles across severe storms.

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