AN INVESTIGATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF MICROWAVE RADAR INSTRUMENT CONCEPTS FOR REMOTE SENSING OF ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURESURFACE AIR PRESSURE IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ATMOSPHERIC PARAMETERS THAT ARE REGULARLY MEASURED AT GROUND BASED SURFACE METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS. OVER OCEANS SEA SURFACE AIR BAROMETRIC PRESSURES ARE USUALLY MEASURED BY A LIMITED NUMBER OF IN-SITUOBSERVATIONS CONDUCTED BY BUOY STATIONS AND OIL PLATFORMS. THE SPATIAL COVERAGE OF THESE OBSERVATIONS IS VERY POOR ESPECIALLY GIVEN THE TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL VARIABILITY AND THEIMPORTANCE OF THESE VARIATIONS TO WEATHER FORECAST MODELS. FOR EXAMPLE ALONG THE EAST COAST OF THE UNITED STATES AND GULF OF MEXICO ONLY ABOUT 40 BUOYS ARE AVAILABLE UNDER THE NOAA OCEAN OBSERVING SYSTEM (NCOS) OF THE NOAA NATIONAL DATA BUOY CENTER(NDBC; BTTP://WWW NDBC.NOAA.GOV/). THE TROPICAL ATMOSPHERE OCEAN (TAO) PROGRAM ONLY HAS 10 SITES FROM WHICH THE BAROMETRIC PRESSURE IS MEASURED. FOR SEVERE WEATHER CONDITIONS SUCH AS TROPICAL STORMS AND HURRICANES TBESE NOOS AND TAO BUOY SYSTEMSUSUALLY CANNOT PROVIDE SPATIALLY DESIRABLE IN-SITU MEASUREMENTS DUE TO EITHER THE LACK OF BUOY STATIONS ON THE TRACK OF STORMS OR MALFUNCTIONS OF BUOYS CAUSED BY THE SEVERE WEATHER ITSELFUNDER TROPICAL CYCLONE CONDITIONS INCLUDING TROPICAL DEPRESSION TROPICAL STORM HURRICANE AND SUPER-TYPHOON CASES; THE SURFACE BAROMETRIC PRESSURE IS ONE OF THE MOST HIMPORTANT METEOROLOGICAL PARAMETERS IN THE PREDICTION AND FORECAST OF THE INTENSITY AND S TRACK OF TROPICAL STORMS AND HURRICANES. THE CLASSIFICATION OF TROPICAL STORMS ANDHURRICANES ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE (SSHS) IS BASED ON THE MAXIMUM JJ SUSTAINED SURFACE WIND SPEED THAT IS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE CENTRAL AIR PRESSURE AND THE PRESSURE FIELDS SURROUNDING TROPICAL STORMS. THUS THE MEASUREMENT OF CENTRAL PRESSURE AND PRESSURE FIELD ARE IMPORTANT FOR PREDICTIONS AND FORECASTS OF O HURRICANE AND TROPICAL STORM INTENSITY AND STORM TRACK. THE ONLY METHOD CURRENTLY 0 AVAILABLE TO PROVIDE USEFUL SPATIAL SAMPLING IS THE USE OF A MANNED AIRCRAFT DEPLOYING X DROPSONDES. HOWEVER EACH DROPSONDE SUPPLIES ONLY ONE SPATIAL POINT MEASUREMENT. SO EVEN THIS HIGH COST APPROACH PROVIDES ONLY LIMITED DATA AND LEAVES MOST OF THE STORM AREA UNMEASURED. - TO IMPROVE PREDICTIONS AND FORECASTS OF THE INTENSITY AND TRACK OF TROPICAL STORMS LARGE SPATIAL COVERAGE AND FREQUENT SAMPLING OF SEA SURFACE BAROMETRY ARE CRITICALLY NEEDED FOR USE IN NUMERICAL WEATHER MODELS. THESE NEEDED MEASUREMENTS OF SEA SURFACE BAROMETRIC PRESSURE CANNOT BE REALIZED BY IN-SITU BUOY AND AIRCRAFT DROPSONDE TECHNIQUES. THE ONLY HOPE OF THE BAROMETRY FOR LARGE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL SCALES OVER OCEANS IS FROM REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES SUCH AS; MANNED AIRCRAFT UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES (UAVS) AND SATELLITE PLATFORMS.