Validation of SeaWinds on QuikSCAT cell location

Increased interest in high resolution ocean wind measurements, as well as excellent past performance, has led to the development of enhanced resolution applications of Sea-Winds on QuikSCAT scatterometer data. An essential requirement of this development is the validation of the cell location accuracy - the latitude and longitude of each measurement. This paper discusses two methods of validating measurement location accuracy. One method entails analysis of normalized backscatter coefficients over specific land / ocean boundaries. This method has proven accurate for nominal resolution; it is refined for increasing resolution. Another technique employs the QuikSCAT Calibration Ground Station (CGS). Telemetry-reported cell location is compared to the known location of the CGS. Calibration of measurement location using these techniques reveals the limits of SeaWinds pointing accuracy and precision.