A new algorithm for sea-surface wind-speed retrieval based on the L-band radiometer onboard Aquarius

Aquarius is the second satellite mission to focus on the remote sensing of sea-surface salinity from space and it has mapped global sea-surface salinity for nearly 3 years since its launch in 2011. However, benefiting from the high atmospheric transparency and moderate sensitivity to wind speed of the L-band brightness temperature (TB), the Aquarius L-band radiometer can actually provide a new technique for the remote sensing of wind speed. In this article, the sea-surface wind speeds derived from TBs measured by Aquarius’ L-band radiometer are presented, the algorithm for which is developed and validated using multisource wind speed data, including WindSat microwave radiometer and National Data Buoy Center buoy data, and the Hurricane Research Division of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory wind field product. The error analysis indicates that the performance of retrieval algorithm is good. The RMSE of the Aquarius wind-speed algorithm is about 1 and 1.5 m/s for global oceans and areas of tropical hurricanes, respectively. Consequently, the applicability of using the Aquarius L-band radiometer as a near all-weather wind-speed measuring method is verified.