Tilting Effect on the Derivation of Wind Speed from Satellite Altimeters

摘要

The tilting effect (caused by water waves that are much longer than the radarwaves) modifies the local radar incidence angle and introduces a strong attenuation of the radar backscattering return. It is shown that when this tilting effect is accounted for, the agreement of the wind speed derived from the altimeter with the buoy measurement of wind speed is significantly improved.