Summary: The NASA CYclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) measures wind speed, but not direction, at the ocean surface. To test the impact of new observations before such a satellite system is launched, observations like those from the satellite are created from a weather model. This study uses these “simulated” observations to learn how to use both wind speed and direction calculated from the wind speeds that the satellite measures.
Important Conclusions:
1. Wind direction can be calculated from the CYGNSS wind speeds around tropical cyclones.
2. The wind speeds and directions are very useful to analyses and forecasts of hurricane intensity and location, and may be better than older satellites that measure ocean surface wind speeds.
You can read the paper at https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JTECH-D-17-0136.1.