Comparisons of Ocean Surface Wind Speeds From CALIPSO, AMSR-E and CloudSat Measurements

The lidar on the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) mission
provides accurate ocean surface backscatter intensity at 532 nm and 1064 nm wavelength. The
measurements can be used for estimating ocean surface wind speed at CALIPSO's 70 m lidar footprint.
We have developed the high spatial resolution ocean surface wind speed data product for all the
CALIPSO measurements, starting from June 2006.

The CALIPSO ocean surface wind observations and their temporal variations are compared with the
ocean surface wind speed estimates from collocated AMSR-E and CloudSat measurements. Wind Speed
probability distributions are also studied based on the high spatial resolution data and compared with
QuikScat. Scale and shape parameters of the Weibull wind distributions are derived from the wind speed
product.