SMAP Radiometer-Only Tropical Cyclone Intensity and Size Validation

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission was launched January 31st, 2015. It is a combined L-band active / passive system envisioned for measurement of soil moisture over land. In addition to the soil moisture measurement, the SMAP data readily permits retrievals of ocean surface winds and sea surface salinity. In previous work we have found that the SMAP radiometer displays sensitivity to ocean surface wind all the way up to the most extreme wind speeds, possibly as high as 70 m/s, far beyond what is capable with typical C and Kuband ocean wind scatterometers. In this work we use the Rapid Scatterometer (RapidScat) and Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR) to further validate these SMAP radiometeronly high-wind speed retrievals. In addition we consider the size of the retrieved high wind speeds, validating them with the Automated Tropical Cyclone Forecasting (ATCF) system B-deck files.