<title>High-resolution spaceborne scatterometry</title>

Abstract

Spaceborne wind scatterometers are designed principally to measure radar backscatter from the ocean's surface for the determination of the near-surface wind direction and speed. Although measurements of the radar backscatter are made over land, application of these measurements has been limited primarily to the calibration of the instrument due to their low resolution (typically 50 km). However, a recently developed resolution enhancement technique can be applied to the measurements to produced medium-scale radar backscatter images of the earth's surface. Such images have proven useful in the study of tropical vegetation as well as glacial and sea. The resolution enhancement technique is based on image reconstruction techniques and takes advantage of the spatial overlap in independent scatterometer measurements. This paper describes briefly describes some of the applications of this medium-scale K(mu) - band imagery for vegetation studies, hydrology, sea ice mapping, and the study of mesoscale winds.