2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program

Figure 18:
En route from Goose Bay to high winds waypoint, picture captures the end of
the ice sheet.
and is the site of NATO tactical flight training in
Canada. It should be noted, The High Winds ’09
mission received wonderful support from the CFB
air operations and the Canadian weather services.
Without there superb help, the High Wind Mission
would not have been a success.
While in Goose Bay, P-3 flights were scheduled based
on daily field meetings. Satellite data and data provide
by the Canadian Weather services, was reviewed by
the JPL science team and flights were made during
periods of predicated ocean surface winds in excess
of 50 Knots.
The P-3B High-Winds’09 campaign data is still
being analyzed. Preliminary results are showing
high correlation between PALS L-band radiometer
and radar signals of ocean surfaces. The correlation
of TB with radar backscatter is as high as the
correlation with the surface wind speed (greater
than 0.95). The results demonstrated the feasibility
to use the radar backscatter to estimate the excess
brightness temperature due to wind forcing.
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