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The National Hurricane Center’s main tool for calculating hurricane intensity is the Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR). An airborne radiometer called the SFMR is intended to detect surface brightness temperature over a range of six frequency bands, from 4.6 to 7.2 GHz.
The National Hurricane Center’s main tool for calculating hurricane intensity is the Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR).
An airborne radiometer called the SFMR is intended to detect surface brightness temperature over a range of six frequency bands, from 4.6 to 7.2 GHz.
This algorithm produces a real-time measurement of the wind and rain rates at the storm’s surface during hurricanes and tropical storms.
The SFMR detects radiation emissions at six C-band frequencies (or channels) ranging from 4.55 to 7.22 GHz, which are expressed as a brightness temperature of the ocean-atmosphere system.
The antenna has a 3 dB beamwidth of 20 to 28 over the frequency range and is linearly polarised.
The global stepped frequency microwave radiometer market accounted for $XX Billion in 2023 and is anticipated to reach $XX Billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of XX% from 2024 to 2030.
The Tropical Prediction Center/OAR has long mandated that measurements of the storm surface wind field, and in particular the estimation of wind maxima, be made.
The Stepped-Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR), developed by the NOAA/Hurricane Research Division, is the first of a new line of airborne remote sensing equipment intended for operational surface wind estimation in storms.
A downward-pointing antenna on the SFMR is used to passively read microwave radiation emanating from the ocean’s surface.
At six frequencies between 4.6 and 7.2 GHz, one can reasonably estimate the ocean surface brightness temperature by making assumptions about the vertical structure of the atmosphere and using measurements of sea surface temperature taken by an airborne infrared radiometer that faces downward.
Then wind speeds are calculated with the assumption that they will grow linearly as the brightness increases.
