The comparison of altimeter retrieval algorithms of the wind speed and the wave period

With the launch of altimeter, much effort has been made to develop algorithms on the wind speed and the wave period. By using a large data set of collocated altimeter and buoy measurements, the typical wind speed and wave period algorithms are validated. Based on theoretical argument and the concept of wave age, a semi-empirical algorithm for the wave period is also proposed, which has the wave-period dimension, and explicitly demonstrates the relationships between the wave period and the other variables. It is found that Ku and C band data should be applied simultaneously in order to improve either wind speed or wave period algorithms. The dual-band algorithms proposed by Chen et al. (2002) for the wind speed and Quilfen et al. (2004) for the wave period perform best in terms of a root mean square error in the practical applications.