Airborne Wind Vector Scatterometer for Sea Surface Measurements

This paper describes the development of an Airborne Wind Vector Scatterometer for low-resolution wind speed measurements. The scatterometer is designed to meet a wind speed accuracy requirement of 1 m/s. In this ad hoc and low-budget project, the development of the instrument exploited some already existing subsystems. The development started from the definition of the scientific system requirements and ended with two experimental flights for wind vector retrieval from three test areas in the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea. One of the flights was planned for a simultaneous overpass with the TDS-1 satellite that was conducting Global Navigations Satellite System – Reflectometry (GNSS-R) measurements. The results confirm the measurement capabilities of the GNSS-R technology and the desired 1 m/s wind speed accuracy of the scatterometer that was developed.