Wind speed and stress over the ocean: scatterometer versus surface measurements.

It is argued that the next likely scatterometers, on NROSS (KU-band similar to Seasat) and certainly ERS-1 (C-band), will both require surface measurements on which to base or improve their retrieval algorithms. Since the ocean surface is still a 'black box' as far as the backscatter relationship to the wind is concerned, it is further argued that one algorithm is required to derive wind speed and another to derive wind stress. A measurement program is then outlined, which would improve upon the present state of scatterometer anemometry, by providing spatially averaged wind speed and stress at a variety of oceanic sites, together with the necessary supplementary data.-from Author Nat Center for Atmos Res, Boulder, CO, USA.