SeaWinds III : a combination of Ku - band scatteronleterand wind radiomctcrforglobal occan wind measurements

Satellite wind scatterometers are microwave radar instruments desimted s~ecificallv to . . measure near-surface wind speed and direction over the global ocean. NASA has a long term commitment to ocean wind remote sensing, starting from Seasat-A Satellite Scatterometer (SASS), through NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT), to SeaWinds-1. SASSwas launched in June, 1978 and operated for three months. NSCAT was launched on Japan’s Advanced Earth Observation Satellite (ADEOS) in August, 1996, and SeaWinds1 will be launched on ADE1OS-2 in 1999. As a continuation of the NASA wind measurement program, we are developing a next generation wind vector measurement instrument called SeaWinds1 B, scheduled to be launched in year 2003 on Japan’s Advanced Earth Obsenation Satellite-3 (ADEOS-3). The purpose of this paper is to present the system parameters and system design of this new instrument.