Full-system parametric extrema model for satellite wind scatterometry

The current global ocean vector wind dataset is refreshed 2-3 times per day, making it difficult to observe the planetary boundary layer on hourly timescales across hundreds of kilometers. A constellation of many satellite scatterometers could measure global, hourly winds, but current scatterometers are too costly for high-quantity deployment. To rapidly search for low-cost designs, we have developed a full-system, parametric extrema model for satellite wind scatterometer constellations. The model predicts ranges of performance for metrics covering backscatter measurement, wind retrieval, spatial resolution, refresh rate, satellite power, temperature, data flow, and cost. We evaluate the model quality by comparing its predicted performance to the actual performance of several extant scatterometers. The model performs well on most performance metrics, but further work is required to refine the normalized standard deviation model to account for pulse compression.