A comparison of the wind magnitudes obtained from the microwave radiometer onboard IRS‐P4 satellite and the ERS‐2 scatterometer

Wind speeds obtained from the Multifrequency Scanning Microwave Radiometer (MSMR) are evaluated with those obtained from the European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS‐2) scatterometer over the global oceans over the period 15 June 1999 to 23 August 1999. A detailed statistical analysis has been carried out to assess the accuracy of the MSMR wind magnitudes. The analysis consists of an examination of the mean bias and Root Mean Square (rms) differences between the two gridded fields for different regions. The biases and the rms errors are different for different regions, being less over the tropical oceans and more over the polar regions. The biases range from about 3ms −1 in the tropics to over 6ms −1 in high latitudes, with the global average of 4.2ms −1 . These biases are different for different wind speed ranges, being highest for the low wind speed range (0–4ms −1 ). The global standard deviation (SD) is found to be 2.2ms −1 . The MSMR overestimated wind magnitude.