Spaceborne GNSS-Reflectometry for ocean winds: First results from the UK TechDemoSat-1 mission

Foti, Giuseppe ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1507-2133; Gommenginger, Christine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6941-1671; Jales, Philip; Unwin, Martin; Shaw, Andrew; Robertson, Colette; Rosello, Josep. 2015 Spaceborne GNSS-Reflectometry for ocean winds: First results from the UK TechDemoSat-1 mission. Geophysical Research Letters, 42 (13). 5435-5441. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL064204

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Abstract/Summary

First results are presented for ocean surface wind speed retrieval from reflected GPS signals measured by the Low-Earth-Orbiting UK TechDemoSat-1 satellite (TDS-1). Launched in July 2014, TDS-1 provides the first new spaceborne Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) data since the pioneering UK-Disaster Monitoring Mission experiment in 2003. Examples of onboard-processed delay Doppler Maps reveal excellent data quality for winds up to 27.9 m/s. Collocated ASCAT scatterometer winds are used to develop and evaluate a wind speed algorithm based on Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR) and the Bistatic Radar Equation. For SNR greater than 3 dB, wind speed is retrieved without bias and a precision around 2.2 m/s between 3–18 m/s even withoutcalibration. Exploiting lower SNR signals however requires good knowledge of the antenna beam, platform attitude and instrument gain setting. This study demonstrates the capabilities of low-cost, low-mass, low-power GNSS-R receivers ahead of their launch on the NASA CYGNSS constellation in 2016.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL064204
ISSN:	0094-8276
Additional Keywords:	GNSS-Reflectometry; Ocean wind speed; TechDemoSat-1
NORA Subject Terms:	Marine Sciences
Date made live:	09 Jun 2015 16:15 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/510975

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