GEOSAT derived wind speeds over Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal for the period November 1986 to November 1987 have been studied to arrive at seasonal wind pattern. Probability density curves for wind speeds are drawn for each month. The following observations are noted during the analysis. Wind speed distribution is always single peaked irrespective of the monsoon season, for both study areas except for November 1987 at Bay of Bengal. This is because of lack of 15 days data during both November 1986 and 1987.
Wind speed is an important parameter to explain oceanic environment. Conventionally, it is measured by anemometers equipped in ships and buoys. An alternate approach of obtaining wind speed by satellite is dealt in the present paper. GEOSAT was a US Navy satellite carrying a microwave Altimeter sensor. It was launched in March 12, 1985. and collected data until January, 1990. GEOSAT repeated the same path every 17 days. In addition, it revolved 14 orbits per day. Altimeter was centered at a frequency of 13.5 GHz. Altimeter is capable of providing information about the wind speed. To prove the accuracy of the satellite data, comparison of Radar Altimeter derived winds with the buoy recorded winds were carried out by Fedor During northeast and nonmonsoon seasons, peak of the distribution is higher for the Bay of Bengal than the Arabian sea, and the reverse case occurs in the southwest monsoon. From the plots, the frequency of occurrence combined with modal values show that, high winds in Bay of Bengal during northeast monsoon season, and in Arabian sea during southwest monsoon season. It is obvious that the wave heights during the monsoon period are higher than that of the other season, and this can be supported by the presence of higher wind speed values at that time.
