The use of RADARSAT-1 SAR data for operational wind field retrieval

A key parameter necessary for interpreting radar images of marine areas is surface wind speed. Knowledge of the wind speed during and after data acquisition can aid significantly with the image interpretation for applications such as oil slick detection and ship detection. In collaboration with PEMEX Exploration and Production, RADARSAT-1 Wide mode images were used to evaluate wind retrieval. The CMOD_IFR2 model was used for wind field extraction. Based on analysis of the six RADARSAT-1 images, the mean difference between the buoy wind speed and the (mean) SAR-derived wind speed is 2.4 m/s and the mean difference between the buoy wind direction and the SAR-derived wind direction is about 50°. PEMEX is planning to use the SAR-derived wind data to aid in SAR-based ship detection and oil slick detection. From an operational perspective, it is important to note that SAR-derived wind fields do not require additional imagery, since the wind information can be extracted from the same set of images that are used for ship and oil spill detection.