Bottom topography assessment from SAR images

It is well known that under favourable meteorological and hydrodynamic conditions features of the bottom topography of shallow seas are visible in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. Models have been developed to simulate SAR contrast variations for a given depth map. Inversion of these models makes it possible to assess the bottom topography from SAR images and a limited amount of measured depth information. This has great economic benefits as traditional bathymetric surveys are expensive and time consuming. At ARGOSS a Bathymetry Assessment System (BAS) has been implemented along these lines. The present operational version is based on simplified, one-dimensional models. It has been tested a dozen times in demonstration/validation projects in various locations. Depth maps were obtained with an accuracy between 20 cm and 30 cm root mean squared. This is sufficient for many applications