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Wave steepness retrieved from scatterometer data in a genetic algorithm

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Abstract

Wave steepness is an important characteristic of a high sea state, and is widely applied on wave propagations at ports, ships, offshore platforms, and CO2 circulation in the ocean. Obtaining wave steepness is a difficult task that depends heavily on theoretical research on wavelength distribution and direct observations. Development of remote-sensing techniques provides new opportunities to study wave steepness. At present, two formulas are proposed to estimate wave steepness from QuikSCAT and ERS-1/2 scatterometer data. We found that wave steepness retrieving is not affected by radar band, and polarization method, and that relationship of wave steepness with radar backscattering cross section is similar to that with wind. Therefore, we adopted and modified a genetic algorithm for relating wave steepness with radar backscattering cross section. Results show that the root-mean-square error of the wave steepness retrieved is 0.005 in two cases from ERS-1/2 scatterometer data and from QuikSCAT scatterometer data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research (YIC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes, YICCAS, Yantai, 264003, China

    Jie Guo  (过杰)

  2. School of Marine Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Yijun He  (何宜军)

  3. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Yijun He  (何宜军)

Authors
  1. Jie Guo  (过杰)
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  2. Yijun He  (何宜军)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jie Guo  (过杰).

Additional information

Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (No. 2008AA09Z102). Data were provided by the European Space Agency

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Guo, J., He, Y. Wave steepness retrieved from scatterometer data in a genetic algorithm. Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 30, 336–341 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-012-1127-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-012-1127-6

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