Engineering topics

Cardone, V. J.

Publications and source records attributed to Cardone, V. J..

17 records

NASA NTRS1985

Seasat microwave wind and rain observations in severe tropical and midlatitude marine storms

Initial results of studies concerning Seasat measurements in and around tropical and severe midlatitude cyclones over the open ocean are presented, together with an assessment of their accuracy and usefulness. Complementary measurements of surface wind speed and direction, rainfall rate, and the sea surface temperature obtained with the Seasat-A Satellite Scatterometer (SASS), the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR), and the Seasat SAR are analyzed. The Seasat data for the Hurrricanes Fico, Ella, and Greta and the QE II storm are compared with data obtained from aircraft, buoys, and ships. It is shown that the SASS-derived wind speeds are accurate to within 10 percent, and the directions are accurate to within 20 percent. In general, the SASS estimates tend to measure light winds too high and intense winds too low. The errors of the SMMR-derived measurements of the winds in hurricanes tend to be higher than those of the SASS-derived measurements.

Black, P. G.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Tropical Atlantic wind field variations during Sequal Preliminary results

The Sequal (Seasonal Response of the Equatorial Atlantic) program has the objective to model correctly the dominant physical processes producing the seasonal redistribution of heat, mass, and salt in the upper ocean. The efforts of Sequal are greatly enhanced by the Focal (Francais Ocean et Climat dans l'Atlantique Equatorial) program. A knowledge of fields of wind stress over the tropical Atlantic is needed for the achievement of the Sequal objectives. The Sequal program makes use of the Fleet Numerical Oceanography Central (FNOC) 'Nogaps' wind fields as a first-guess field which will subsequently be modified. Nogaps is a global weather prediction model consisting of independent global wind and mass analysis submodels. The present investigation is concerned with some preliminary comparisons between Nogaps predictions and surface observations, taking into account monthly mean Nogaps fields and monthly means from a century-long ship report-based climatology.

Harrison, D. E.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Potential impact of remote sensing data on sea-state analysis and prediction

The severe North Atlantic storm which damaged the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) was studied to assess the impact of remotely sensed marine surface wind data obtained by SEASAT-A, on sea state specifications and forecasts. Alternate representations of the surface wind field in the QE2 storm were produced from the SEASAT enhanced data base, and from operational analyses based upon conventional data. The wind fields were used to drive a high resolution spectral ocean surface wave prediction model. Results show that sea state analyses would have been vastly improved during the period of storm formation and explosive development had remote sensing wind data been available in real time. A modest improvement in operational 12 to 24 hour wave forecasts would have followed automatically from the improved initial state specification made possible by the remote sensing data in both numerical and sea state prediction models. Significantly improved 24 to 48 hour wave forecasts require in addition to remote sensing data, refinement in the numerical and physical aspects of weather prediction models.

Cardone, V. J.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Surface wind analyses for Seasat

During the 99 days of Seasat operation, two large-scale experiments were conducted which established the satellite sensors' wind measuring capabilities: (1) the Gulf of Alaska Experiment (GOASEX), and (2) the Joint Air Sea Interaction Experiment (JASIN), which unlike GOASEX was independent of the Seasat program and undertook comprehensive air and sea investigations which furnished excellent comparison data for Seasat. Qualitative comparison windfields were also provided by several storms. The point measurements in GOASEX and JASIN were averaged in conjunction with Seasat scatterometer regions and, on the basis of comparisons between several anemometers on buoys and meteorological ships and the calculation of various averaging times, a 20-min average yields a scatterometer scale windfield accuracy of up to + or 1 m/sec and + or - 10 deg in well-behaved windfields.

Brown, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Intercomparison of wind speeds inferred by the SASS, altimeter, and SMMR

The operational theory, control algorithms, and comparisons with surface-determined wind speeds for the scatterometer (SASS), altimeter (ALT), and passive microwave radiometer (SMMR) on board the Seasat satellite are presented. Radiative scattering combining specular reflections and Bragg resonance scattering are noted to occur at tilting waves and sea foam, two conditions highly correlated with wind speed. SASS scans swaths of 70, 200, and 700 km from nadir, the SMMR covers a 150 km strip. Normalized radar sections are derived from the SASS and ALT telemetry, and brightness temperature from the SMMR. ALT winds were found to be biased about 3 m/sec low, while intercomparison between the SMMR and SASS data showed a mean difference of 0.3 m/sec with a standard deviation from measured winds of 1.7 m/sec or less. The effects of land thermal emissions, rain, and sun glint are discussed, and good viewing conditions are concluded to result in 2 m/sec accuracy.

Wentz, F. J.↗

NASA NTRS1981

On the sensitivity of numerical weather prediction to remotely sensed marine surface wind data - A simulation study

The reported investigation has the objective to assess the potential impact on numerical weather prediction (NWP) of remotely sensed surface wind data. Other investigations conducted with similar objectives have not been satisfactory in connection with a use of procedures providing an unrealistic distribution of initial errors. In the current study, care has been taken to duplicate the actual distribution of information in the conventional observing system, thus shifting the emphasis from accuracy of the data to the data coverage. It is pointed out that this is an important consideration in assessing satellite observing systems since experience with sounder data has shown that improvements in forecasts due to satellite-derived information is due less to a general error reduction than to the ability to fill data-sparse regions. The reported study concentrates on the evaluation of the observing system simulation experimental design and on the assessment of the potential of remotely sensed marine surface wind data.

Cane, M. A.↗

NASA NTRS1981

The potential impact of scatterometry on oceanography - A wave forecasting case

A series of observing system simulation experiments have been performed in order to assess the potential impact of marine surface wind data on numerical weather prediction. In addition to conventional data, the experiments simulated the time-continuous assimilation of remotely sensed marine surface wind or temperature sounding data. The wind data were fabricated directly for model grid points intercepted by a Seasat-1 scatterometer swath and were assimilated into the lowest active level (945 mb) of the model using a localized successive correction method. It is shown that Seasat wind data can greatly improve numerical weather forecasts due to better definition of specific features. The case of the QE II storm is examined.

Cane, M. A.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Simulation studies of the application of SEASAT data in weather and state of sea forecasting models

The design and analysis of SEASAT simulation studies in which the error structure of conventional analyses and forecasts is modeled realistically are presented. The development and computer implementation of a global spectral ocean wave model is described. The design of algorithms for the assimilation of theoretical wind data into computers and for the utilization of real wind data and wave height data in a coupled computer system are presented.

Cardone, V. J.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Surface observations for the evaluation of geophysical measurements from Seasat

The surface observations used for direct comparison with Seasat-derived values at fixed locations and as input to analyzed fields of pressure, wind, air and sea temperatures, and surface dew point are discussed. These included measurements made by research vessels participating in the Gulf of Alaska Seasat Experiment (GOASEX) and NOAA research platforms in addition to aircraft observations and reports from the World Weather Watch. The application of these observations in describing the synoptic-scale winds over the ocean is discussed, and the sensitivity of the verification statistics to the type of data (observations from buoys, weather ships, and transient vessels with or without anemometers) is considered. Results of a preliminary comparison of wind fields derived from Seasat-A scatterometer observation with winds specified by several types of platforms are presented.

Wilkerson, J. C.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Seasat scanning multichannel microwave radiometer - Results of the Gulf of Alaska workshop

Scanning multichannel microwave radiometer results obtained by the Gulf of Alaska Seasat Experiment Workshop are reported. The Seasat SMMR provided data from five channels operating at 6.6, 10.7, 18, 21, and 37 GHz at vertical and horizontal polarizations. Two preliminary algorithms were used to retrieve geophysical parameters from the data: the Wentz algorithm (Bierman et al., 1978) based on a theoretically derived function for computing brightness temperatures and the Wilheit algorithm, based on statistical relationships between brightness temperatures and the geophysical parameters obtained from an ensemble of realistic sea-surface temperature values, wind speeds, atmospheric temperature profiles, water vapor profiles and cloud models. In spite of the immaturity of the data-processing algorithms, results are encouraging. For open ocean, rain-free cells of high-quality surface truth wind determinations display standard deviations of 3 m/sec about a bias of 1.5 m/sec. The sea-surface temperature exhibits a standard deviation of about 1.5 deg C about a bias of 3 to 5 deg C under a variety of meteorological conditions.

Lipes, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Seasat-A oceanographic data system and users

The Seasat-A system is reviewed with emphasis on data retrieval, processing and dissemination plans. Attention is paid to the sensors of the Seasat satellite including the compressed pulse radar altimeter, the coherent synthetic aperture imaging radar, the microwave wind scatterometer, and the scanning visible/infrared radiometer. Particular emphasis is placed on a particular set of experiments: the Navy's Fleet Numerical Weather Control will receive Seasat data in real time and process the data into products that will be used in weather and sea condition forecasts.

Mccandless, S. W., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1976

The measurement of the winds near the ocean surface with a radiometer-scatterometer on Skylab

The author has identified the following significant results. There were a total of twenty-six passes in the ZLV mode that yielded useful data. Six were in the in-track noncontiguous mode; all others were in the cross-track noncontiguous mode. The wind speed and direction, as effectively determined in a neutral atmosphere at 19.5 m above the sea surface, were found for each cell scanned by S193. It is shown how the passive microwave measurements were used both to compute the attenuation of the radar beam and to determine those cells where the backscatter measurement was suspect. Given the direction of the wind from some independent source, with the typical accuracy of measurement by available meteorological methods, a backscatter measurement at a nadir angle of 50, 43, or 32 deg can be used to compute the speed of the wind averaged over the illuminated area.

Pierson, W. J.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Skylab S-193 Radscat microwave measurements of sea surface winds

The S-193 Radscat made extensive measurements of many sea conditions. Measurements were taken in a tropical hurricane (Ava), a tropical storm (Christine), and in portions of extratropical cyclones. Approximately 200 scans of ocean data at 105 kilometer spacings were taken during the first two Skylab missions and another 200 during the final mission when the characteristics of the measurements changed due to damage of the antenna. Backscatter with four transmit/receive polarization combinations and emissions with horizontal and vertical receive polarizations were measured. Other surface parameters investigated for correlation with the measurements included sea temperature, air/sea temperature difference, and gravity-wave spectrum. Methods were developed to correct the microwave measurements for atmospheric effects. The radiometric data were corrected accurately for clear sky and light cloud conditions only. The radiometer measurements were used to recover the surface scattering characteristics for all atmospheric conditions excluding rain. The radiometer measurements also detected the presence of rain which signaled when the scattering measurement should not be used for surface wind estimation. Regression analysis was used to determine empirically the relation between surface parameters and the microwave measurements, after correction for atmospheric effects. Results indicate a relationship approaching square-law at 50 deg between differential scattering coefficient and wind speed with horizontally polarized scattering data showing slightly more sensitivity to wind speed than vertically polarized data.

Moore, R. K.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Preliminary results on ocean dynamics from Skylab and their implications for future spacecraft

The instrument aboard Skylab designated S193 - a combined passive and active microwave radar system acting as a radiometer, scatterometer, and altimeter - is used to measure the surface vector wind speeds in the planetary boundary layer over the oceans. Preliminary results corroborate the hypothesis that sea surface winds in the planetary boundary layer can be determined from satellite data. Future spacecraft plans for measuring a geoid with an accuracy up to 10 cm are discussed.

Hayes, J.↗

NASA NTRS1975

The measurement of winds over the ocean from Skylab with application to measuring and forecasting typhoons and hurricanes

On Skylab, a combination microwave radar-radiometer (S193) made measurements in a tropical hurricane (AVA), a tropical storm, and various extratropical wind systems. The winds at each cell scanned by the instrument were determined by objective numerical analysis techniques. The measured radar backscatter is compared to the analyzed winds and shown to provide an accurate method for measuring winds from space. An operational version of the instrument on an orbiting satellite will be able to provide the kind of measurements in tropical cyclones available today only by expensive and dangerous aircraft reconnaissance. Additionally, the specifications of the wind field in the tropical boundary layer should contribute to improved accuracy of tropical cyclone forecasts made with numerical weather predictions models currently being applied to the tropical atmosphere.

Cardone, V. J.↗

NASA NTRS1974

Preliminary analysis of Skylab RADSCAT results over the ocean

Preliminary observations at 13.9 GHz of the radar backscatter and microwave emission from the sea were analyzed using data obtained by the radiometer scatterometer on Skylab. Results indicate approximately a square-law relationship between differential scattering coefficient and windspeed at angles of 40 deg to 50 deg, after correction for directional effect, over a range from about 4 up to about 25 meters/sec. The brightness temperature response was also observed, and considerable success was achieved in correcting it for atmospheric attenuation and emission. Measurements were made in June, 1973, over Hurricane Ava off the west coast of Mexico and over relatively calm conditions in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.

Moore, R. K.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Preliminary report on Skylab S-193 Radscat measurements of Hurricane Ava

The author has identified the following significant results. The Skylab RADSCAT instrument S-193 was operated on 6 June 1973 while the spacecraft flew past Hurricane Ava in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Scatterometer returns at all polarizations and radiometer measurements were obtained from a section through the storm with winds up to 48 knots at 52 deg incident angle and 35 knots at 45.5 deg incident angle. These first hurricane scatterometer measurements indicate reasonable correlation between wind speed and backscatter, with horizontal response much stronger than the vertical response at 52 deg. Each of the sections through the hurricane contains an as yet unexplained dip in cross section at a point 200 to 300 km prior to passing the eye. The response at a point where the radiometer signal's dramatic increase indicates strong rain is also accompanied by a strong increase in the backscattered signal. No attempt has been made to make a thorough correlation of radiometric response with wind speed, but the atmospheric contribution to the radiometer signal is quite apparent.

Pierson, W. J., Jr.↗