Abstract:

Compared with other available scatterometers, the RFSCAT can provide a wider swath and more observation combinations of azimuth/incident angels for a wind vector cell (WVC), and have been proved to be able to improve the inversion accuracy of wind field. Accuracy of the inversed wind vector over the near ocean surface depends on the accuracy of radar cross section (σ 0) measurement. For this purpose, accurate in orbit calibration is required. In this paper, according to the systematic parameters of the Chinese French Oceanography Satellite (CFOSAT) RFSCAT, a method for external calibration of RFSCAT based on Ground Calibration Stations (CGSs) is proposed, and is verified by simulations. The technique is used to determine satellite attitude estimation accuracy up to 0.01° and antenna gain estimation accuracy up to 0.1〖KG*9〗dB, which is able to monitor and verify its antenna gain pattern in orbit.

Key words: Radar scatterometer, Rotating fan beam scatterometer (RFSCAT), In orbit calibration, Ground calibration station (CGS)