Airborne Measurements of Oceanic Wind Vector Fields Over the Labrador Sea Using Passive Polarimetric Radiometry

The focus of this research is to develop algorithms and aircraft and satellite remote sensing systems for imaging of ocean surface winds using passive microwave radiometers. The application of passive radiometry to ocean surface imaging, specifically using polarimetric microwave measurements of the third and fourth Stokes' parameters, has been identified as a potentially useful and low-cost means of obtaining the magnitude and direction of near-surface winds from space. The purpose of this work is to empirically characterize the polarimetric thermal emission signature from a wind-driven ocean surface using airborne measurements and to use the measured data to develop a theoretical emission model adequate for the prediction of satellite signatures at all wind speed ranges. A related goal is to understand the effects of air-sea stability and wind fetch on passive microwave emission signatures and to develop retrieval algorithms for ocean surface parameters, including ocean wave spectra.