BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Remote Sens.
Sec. Microwave Remote Sensing
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frsen.2025.1657576
This article is part of the Research TopicRemote Sensing for Earth Observation Using GNSS-ReflectometryView all articles
Evaluation of the Effect of Satellite Motion on GNSS-R Wind Speed Retrieval: Insights from TRITON
Provisionally accepted
- 1National Central University, Jungli City, Taiwan
- 2Taiwan Space Agency, Hsinchu, Taiwan
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TRITON is a newly launched GNSS-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) satellite mission by Taiwan, designed to enhance global sea surface wind monitoring. Among its scientific objectives, TRITON delivers high-resolution Delay Doppler Map (DDM) observations that enable novel investigations into the physical mechanisms shaping GNSS-R signal structures. In this study, we highlight the critical yet often overlooked role of transmitter-receiver relative velocity (Vrel) in influencing DDM morphology within the bistatic measurement geometry. Traditional geophysical model function (GMF) retrieval methods, which rely primarily on surface scattering assumptions, often neglect this orbital dynamic factor. Leveraging a deep learning-based framework, we empirically demonstrate that unaccountedfor Vrel can introduce systematic misinterpretations of surface roughness, likely due to DDM distortion. By explicitly incorporating Vrel as an input feature, our retrieval model achieves improved wind speed estimation accuracy from TRITON data, reducing root-mean-square error (RMSE) by over 11%. These results underscore the importance of orbital dynamics in GNSS-R applications and position TRITON as a valuable platform for advancing ocean remote sensing capabilities.
Keywords: GNSS reflectometry, Delay Doppler map, satellite relative velocity in bistatic mode, Wind speed retrieval, deep learning, TRITON satellite, Bistatic radar cross-section
Received: 01 Jul 2025; Accepted: 21 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Chien, Yeh, Lin and Liou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hwa Chien, National Central University, Jungli City, Taiwan
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