Can GNSS reflectometry detect precipitation over oceans?

For the first time, a rain signature in Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS‐R) observations is demonstrated. Based on the argument that the forward quasi‐specular scattering relies upon surface gravity waves with lengths larger than several wavelengths of the reflected signal, a commonly made conclusion is that the scatterometric GNSS‐R measurements are not sensitive to the surface small‐scale roughness generated by raindrops impinging on the ocean surface. On the contrary, this study presents an evidence that the bistatic radar cross section σ0 derived from TechDemoSat‐1 data is reduced due to rain at weak winds, lower than ≈ 6 m/s. The decrease is as large as ≈ 0.7 dB at the wind speed of 3 m/s due to a precipitation of 0–2 mm/hr. The simulations based on the recently published scattering theory provide a plausible explanation for this phenomenon which potentially enables the GNSS‐R technique to detect precipitation over oceans at low winds

First Order Sea Clutter Cross Section for HF Hybrid Sky-Surface Wave Radar

This paper presents a modified method to simulate the first order sea clutter cross section for high frequency (HF) hybrid sky-surface wave radar, based on the existent model applied in the bistatic HF surface wave radar. The modification focuses on the derivation of Bragg scattering frequency and the ionosphere dispersive impact on the clutter resolution cell. Meanwhile, an analytic expression to calculate the dispersive transfer function is derived on condition that the ionosphere is spherical stratified. Simulation results explicate the variance of the cross section after taking account of the influence triggered by the actual clutter resolution cell, and the spectral width of the first order sea clutter is defined so as to compare the difference. Eventually, experiment results are present to verify the rationality and validity of the proposed method

Impact of rain, swell, and surface currents on the electromagnetic bias in GNSS-Reflectometry

The assessment of the electromagnetic (EM) bias is required to predict the performance of upcoming global navigation satellite systems-reflectometry (GNSS-R) altimetry systems, and its impact in data assimilation climate studies. In previous studies, the EM bias in bistatic GNSS-R altimetry (L-band) was numerically estimated for a wind-driven sea surface height spectrum, including the time-domain variability. In the present study, spectral models for the rain, swell, and surface currents are used to compute a perturbed wind-driven sea surface height spectrum, from which a perturbed three-dimensional (3-D) time-evolving wind-driven sea surface height is computed. The generated sea surface is then illuminated by a right hand circular polarization (RHCP) L-band EM wave, and the wave scattered from each facet is computed from each facet using the physical optics (PO) method under the Kirchhoff approximation (KA). Finally, the EM bias is computed numerically as the height of each patch times the forward-scattering coefficient, divided by the average of the forward-scattering coefficient. The impact of rain on the EM bias is a moderate decrease (in magnitude) due to the damping of the large gravity waves, which is more significant as the wind speed increases. The impact of swell is a small increase (in magnitude) mostly due to the change of the local incidence angles. The impact of currents can be either a moderate increase or decrease (in magnitude), depending on the sense of the current with respect to the wind, due to a change in the surface roughness.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Toward RADSCAT measurements over the sea and their interpretation

Investigations into several areas which are essential to the execution and interpretation of suborbital observations by composite radiometer - scatterometer sensor (RADSCAT) are reported. Experiments and theory were developed to demonstrate the remote anemometric capability of the sensor over the sea through various weather conditions. It is shown that weather situations found in extra tropical cyclones are useful for demonstrating the all weather capability of the composite sensor. The large scale fluctuations of the wind over the sea dictate the observational coverage required to correlate measurements with the mean surface wind speed. Various theoretical investigations were performed to establish a premise for the joint interpretation of the experiment data. The effects of clouds and rains on downward radiometric observations over the sea were computed. A method of predicting atmospheric attenuation from joint observations is developed. In other theoretical efforts, the emission and scattering characteristics of the sea were derived. Composite surface theories with coherent and noncoherent assumptions were employed

Wind direction signatures in GNSS-R observables from space

Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Development of a dynamic underwater acoustic communication channel simulator with configurable sea surface parameters to explore time-varying signal distortion

A wide-band phase-coherent multi-path underwater acoustic channel simulation is developed using an approximate quantitative model of the acoustic wave response to a time-varying three-dimensional rough surface. It has been demonstrated over transmission ranges from 100 m to 8 km by experimental channel probing and comparable synthetic replication of the channel probing through the simulated channel, that the simulation is capable of reproducing fine-time-scale Doppler and delay distortions consistent with those generated in real shallow channels

Electromagnetic Scattering and Statistic Analysis of Clutter from Oil Contaminated Sea Surface

In order to investigate the electromagnetic (EM) scattering characteristics of the three dimensional sea surface contaminated by oil, a rigorous numerical method multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA) is developed to preciously calculate the electromagnetic backscatter from the two-layered oil contaminated sea surface. Illumination window and resistive window are combined together to depress the edge current induced by artificial truncation of the sea surface. By using this combination, the numerical method can get a high efficiency at a less computation cost. The differences between backscatters from clean sea and oil contaminated sea are investigated with respect to various incident angles and sea states. Also, the distribution of the sea clutter is examined for the oil-spilled cases in this paper

GNSS transpolar earth reflectometry exploriNg system (G-TERN): mission concept

The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) Transpolar Earth Reflectometry exploriNg system (G-TERN) was proposed in response to ESA's Earth Explorer 9 revised call by a team of 33 multi-disciplinary scientists. The primary objective of the mission is to quantify at high spatio-temporal resolution crucial characteristics, processes and interactions between sea ice, and other Earth system components in order to advance the understanding and prediction of climate change and its impacts on the environment and society. The objective is articulated through three key questions. 1) In a rapidly changing Arctic regime and under the resilient Antarctic sea ice trend, how will highly dynamic forcings and couplings between the various components of the ocean, atmosphere, and cryosphere modify or influence the processes governing the characteristics of the sea ice cover (ice production, growth, deformation, and melt)? 2) What are the impacts of extreme events and feedback mechanisms on sea ice evolution? 3) What are the effects of the cryosphere behaviors, either rapidly changing or resiliently stable, on the global oceanic and atmospheric circulation and mid-latitude extreme events? To contribute answering these questions, G-TERN will measure key parameters of the sea ice, the oceans, and the atmosphere with frequent and dense coverage over polar areas, becoming a “dynamic mapper”of the ice conditions, the ice production, and the loss in multiple time and space scales, and surrounding environment. Over polar areas, the G-TERN will measure sea ice surface elevation (<;10 cm precision), roughness, and polarimetry aspects at 30-km resolution and 3-days full coverage. G-TERN will implement the interferometric GNSS reflectometry concept, from a single satellite in near-polar orbit with capability for 12 simultaneous observations. Unlike currently orbiting GNSS reflectometry missions, the G-TERN uses the full GNSS available bandwidth to improve its ranging measurements. The lifetime would be 2025-2030 or optimally 2025-2035, covering key stages of the transition toward a nearly ice-free Arctic Ocean in summer. This paper describes the mission objectives, it reviews its measurement techniques, summarizes the suggested implementation, and finally, it estimates the expected performance.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version