Presenting Author: Dr. Barry Vanhoff

Limited field data and regional atmospheric model results suggest that systematic wind patterns with cross-shore scales smaller than 50 km are prevalent in the nearshore region near mountainous coasts and islands. Ekman pumping from these small-scale winds contributes substantial forcing to the coastal ocean. Current high (12.5km) resolution scatterometer data products use a 20-km land mask which preclude their use for investigating nearshore wind patterns and the connections between coastal and larger-scale ocean winds. Although higher resolution scatterometer wind retrievals have been produced, these experimental data sets have not been rigorously validated – in particular, their coverage limitations near land have not been determined objectively, and their accuracies in the coastal zone have not been quantified. This investigation will validate a full-mission, high-resolution 12.5km scatterometer data product generated at OSU which uses a refined wind retrieval algorithms and a new empirical land mask. Analyses of backscatter statistics from QuikSCAT sigma0 slice measurements are used to establish an objective location- and geometry-dependent empirical land mask (nominally < 20-km), and winds have been re-retrieved as necessary to ensure maximum nearshore coverage while excluding land-contaminated measurements. Operational NDBC buoys are used to quantitatively characterize the accuracy of the high-resolution vector wind measurements in the coastal zone.

2024 International OVWST Meeting May 29 - 31 Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

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