ROWS estimates of wave height, wind speed, and directional wave spectra for SIR-B underflights off Chile, October 11 and 12, 1984

An account is given of the successful operation of the Goddard Ku-band Radar Ocean Wave Spectrometer (ROWS) on four out of five of the NASA Wallops' P-3 underflights of the Shuttle Imaging Radar-B (SIR-B) off the coast of southern Chile during the period of October 7-12, 1984. ROWS provided surface wind speed, wave height, and directional wave height spectrum estimates from the instrument's nadir altimeter mode and off-nadir spectrometer mode. ROWS estimates of the directional spectra of 300-400-m wavelength swell-dominated 3-5 m seas on October 11 and 12 are presented and compared to SCR (Surface Contour Radar), SIR-B, and Navy GSOWM spectra. Good agreement is found with SCR height spectra for the 12th (when the SCR was operable). Also, surprisingly good agreement is found between ROWS slope spectra and SIR-B image spectra for both the 11th and 12th for both swell and local wind-sea components. ROWS altimeter mode estimates of maximum winds of about 10 m/s on the 11th and 12th are seen to be consistent with the ROWS spectrometer mode observed local wind-sea peak frequencies of about 0.12-0.14 Hz.