NOAA CoastWatch RADARSAT-1 SAR coastal monitoring applications demonstrations

A summary of the interim results of the first two years of the authors´ NASA RADARSAT-1 ADRO-2 SAR project is given. The Alaska SAR Demonstration (AKDEMO) is providing winds, vessel positions, and SAR imagery to users in Alaska for evaluation as to their utility to operational government agencies responsible for ocean and weather prediction and fisheries management/enforcement. The AKDEMO applications are maturing and their accuracy has been measured. A new demonstration, the Gulf of Mexico Experiment (GoMEx), is now underway to examine use of SAR data and products in hazardous algal bloom (HAB) and oil spill/seep monitoring. Initial results show correspondence of bloom signatures in ocean color and SAR data in areas of high HAB concentration as measured from ship water samples. In addition to these two applications demonstrations, research is underway in the use of SAR data to study upwelling, river plumes, ocean current boundaries, atmospheric boundary layer processes, and other applications. This research will continue into the third and final year of the ADRO-2 project.