Code Record

2019-08-17

[DOI: 10.21982/4vaf-b861] QMOD4
Long, David
This MATLAB code is designed to compute and plot the QuikSCAT version 4 geophysical model function (GMF) used for processing QuikSCAT data into vector winds. The GMF computes the normalized radar cross-section (sigma-0) of the ocean’s surface as a function of the 10 m near-surface neutral-stability wind speed and direction, the radar geometry (incidence and azimuth angles), and the radar polarization. The code also illustrates how the GMF is inverted to estimate the wind speed and direction from multiple collocated sigma-0 measurements taken with different radar geometries and/or polarizations.

Code Link: QMOD4.zip
Code Size: 15176091 bytes
Code MD5 Checksum: 44945d40df308d3ae740cca3880ceaa7


Appears in: Lungu, T., and P. S. Callahan, Eds., 2006: QuikSCAT science data product user’s manual: Overview and geophysical data products. Version 3.0, JPL Tech. Rep. D-18053-Rev A, 91 pp.

Ulaby, F. and D.G. Long, 2013: Microwave Radar and Radiometric Remote Sensing, ISBN: 978-0-472-11935-6, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Fore, A. G., B. W. Stiles, A. H. Chau, B. A. Williams, R. S. Dunbar, and E. Rodriguez, 2013: Point-wise wind retrieval and ambiguity removal improvements for the QuikSCAT climatological data set. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 52, 51–59, doi:10.1109/TGRS.2012.2235843

Spencer, M.W., C. Wu, and D.G. Long, 2000: Improved resolution backscatter measurements with the SeaWinds pencil-beam scatterometer, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 38(1), 89–104, doi:10.1109/36.823904, 2000.


Code Languages: Matlab

Sensor Categories: Scatterometer

Geophysical Model: Both Direct and Inverse

Both Instrument Processing/Calibration and Geophysical Categories: Ocean: Surface Winds, Scatterometer

Keywords: Scatterometer, ocean winds, geophysical model function, wind retrieval