Comparison of Special Sensor Microwave Imager and buoy‐measured wind speeds from 1987 to 1997

We compare wind speeds derived from microwave radiometer measurements made by the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) series of satellite instruments to those directly measured by buoy‐mounted anemometers. The mean difference between SSM/I and buoy winds is typically <0.4 m s −1 when averaged over all operational Tropical Atmosphere‐Ocean and National Data Buoy Center buoys for a given year, and the standard deviation is <1.4 m s −1 . Mean errors for a given satellite‐buoy pair typically range from −1 to +1 m s −1 , with standard deviations <1.4 m s −1 . Two methods of converting buoy‐measured wind speed to a standard value measured at a height of 10 m are compared. We find that the principal difference between a simple logarithmic correction and a more detailed conversion to 10 m equivalent neutral stability wind speed is a shift of wind speed by about 0.12 m s −1 with no change in the distribution of SSM/I‐buoy wind speed differences.