The GNSS-R Eddy Experiment II: L-band and Optical Speculometry for Directional Sea-Roughness Retrieval from Low Altitude Aircraft

We report on the retrieval of directional sea-roughness (the full directional mean square slope, including MSS, direction and isotropy) through inversion of Global Navigation Satellite System Reflections (GNSS-R) and SOlar REflectance Speculometry (SORES)data collected during an experimental flight at 1000 m. The emphasis is on the utilization of the entire Delay-Doppler Map (for GNSS-R) or Tilt Azimuth Map (for SORES) in order to infer these directional parameters. Obtained estimations are analyzed and compared to Jason-1 measurements and the ECMWF numerical weather model.Comment: Proceedings from the 2003 Workshop on Oceanography with GNSS Reflections, Barcelona, Spain, 200

Sea state monitoring using coastal GNSS-R

We report on a coastal experiment to study GPS L1 reflections. The campaign was carried out at the Barcelona Port breaker and dedicated to the development of sea-state retrieval algorithms. An experimental system built for this purpose collected and processed GPS data to automatically generate a times series of the interferometric complex field (ICF). The ICF was analyzed off line and compared to a simple developed model that relates ICF coherence time to the ratio of significant wave height (SWH) and mean wave period (MWP). The analysis using this model showed good consistency between the ICF coherence time and nearby oceanographic buoy data. Based on this result, preliminary conclusions are drawn on the potential of coastal GNSS-R for sea state monitoring using semi-empirical modeling to relate GNSS-R ICF coherence time to SWH.Comment: All Starlab authors have contributed significantly; the Starlab author list has been ordered randomly. Submitted to GR

The Eddy Experiment: accurate GNSS-R ocean altimetry from low altitude aircraft

During the Eddy Experiment, two synchronous GPS receivers were flown at 1 km altitude to collect L1 signals and their reflections from the sea surface for assessment of altimetric precision and accuracy. Wind speed (U10) was around 10 m/s, and SWH up to 2 m. A geophysical parametric waveform model was used for retracking and estimation of the lapse between the direct and reflected signals with a 1-second precision of 3 m. The lapse was used to estimate the SSH along the track using a differential model. The RMS error of the 20 km averaged GNSS-R absolute altimetric solution with respect to Jason-1 SSH and a GPS buoy measurement was of 10 cm, with a 2 cm mean difference. Multipath and retracking parameter sensitivity due to the low altitude are suspected to have degraded accuracy. This result provides an important milestone on the road to a GNSS-R mesoscale altimetry space mission.Comment: All Starlab authors have contributed significantly; the Starlab Author list has been ordered randoml

Operational oceanography in support to indicator reporting

Operational Oceanography (OO) has now emerged to a stage that allows the design, development and execution of marine core services tailored to user requirements. As such it is also feasible to provide routine production of environmental and climate indicators. Indicators are synthetic indices of environmental changes at various temporal and spatial scales. In this paper we outline the possible contribution and strengthening of existing indicator reporting based on OO products followed by a discussion of the relevance of such improved reporting for marine environmental policy implementation and regulation. In particular, it capitalizes on the main achievements of the Marine Environment and Security of the European Area (MERSEA) project, the outcome of a European Marine Monitoring and Assessment (EMMA) workshop on the connection between operational oceanography and the European Marine Strategy (EMS) Directive and the regular European Environmental Agency (EEA) assessment reports

Investigation about the effect of manufacturing parameters on the mechanical behaviour of natural fibre nonwovens reinforced thermoplastic composites

To date, nonwoven fabrics made with natural fibres and thermoplastic commingled fibres have been extensively used in the composite industry for a wide variety of applications. This paper presents an innovative study about the effect of the manufacturing parameters on the mechanical behaviour of flax/PP nonwoven reinforced composites. The mechanical properties of nonwoven fabric reinforced composites are related directly to the ones of dry nonwoven reinforcements, which depend strongly on the nonwoven manufacturing parameters, such as the needle-punching and areal densities. Consequently, the influence of these manufacturing parameters will be analysed through the tensile and flexural properties. The results demonstrated that the more areal density the nonwoven fabric has, the more the mechanical behaviour can be tested for composites. By contrast, it has a complex influence on needle-punching density on the load-strain and bending behaviours at the composite scale