A case study on swell modulation caused by surface winds using spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar

Author

Sun, Jian ; Kawamura, Hiroshi

Author_Institution

Tohoku Univ., Sendai

fYear

2007

fDate

23-28 July 2007

Firstpage

975

Lastpage

978

Abstract

In an ERS-SAR image of the sea off Kii Peninsula on 30 March 1996, we found an atmospheric front formed by the sheltering effect of land topography and swell modulation in the sheltered/non-sheltered areas. From the SAR image, high- resolution wind speed and SAR-wave spectrum are retrieved. In the frequency range higher than the peak frequency, the SAR- spectra of the non-sheltered area have energy density higher than that of the sheltered area. The difference between the spectra of sheltered/non-sheltered areas is well explained by the simulated SAR spectra using the SAR-derived winds and a wind wave development formula suggest that the observed swell modulation is caused by the surface wind. This is a preliminary report and a full paper will appear elsewhere.

Keywords

ocean waves; oceanographic regions; oceanographic techniques; remote sensing by radar; synthetic aperture radar; wind; AD 1996 03 30; ERS-SAR image; JONSWAP; Kii Peninsula; SAR-wave spectrum; atmospheric front; land topography; ocean surface waves; sea image; sheltering effect; spaceborne synthetic aperture radar; surface wind; swell modulation; wind speed; wind wave development; Energy resolution; Frequency; Image resolution; Image retrieval; Sea surface; Spaceborne radar; Surface topography; Surface waves; Synthetic aperture radar; Wind speed; JONSWAP; S-SWi (Swell-Surface Wind interaction); SAR; Surface winds; Swell;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2007. IGARSS 2007. IEEE International

Conference_Location

Barcelona

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-1211-2

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-1212-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2007.4422962

Filename

4422962