NASA'S OCEAN VECTOR WINDS SCIENCE TEAM WORKSHOPS

摘要

Scatterometers are unique among satellite remote sensors in their ability to determine accurate wind vectors over water. They provide a wealth of wind velocity observations over the Earth's oceans that have a wide variety of applications, including weather forecasting, marine safety, commercial fishing, El Nino prediction and monitoring, and long-term climate studies. Yet, for its many strengths, there also remain weaknesses in the global scatterom-eter observing system for which improvements can bemade. One weakness that has been noted since before the launch of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) is that there is no U.S.-funded follow-on mission for this polar-orbiting satellite. It has been anticipated for several years that too much friction would stop the rotation of QuikSCAT's antenna, preventing further wind retrievals. This occurred at 0707 UTC 23 November 2009, after more than 54,000 orbits about the Earth and more than seven years beyond its design life.