TerraSAR-X for Oceanography

TerraSAR-X is a german X-band radar satellite to be launched in 2006. The system will provide synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data with high spatial resolution for both commercial and scientific use. The spacecraft will be equipped with a phased array X-band SAR, which can operate in different polarisations and has furthermore beam stearing capabilities. In addition the system has a split antenna mode, which is able to provide along track interferometric information. The instrument is designed for multiple imaging modes like Stripmap, Spotlight and ScanSAR. Due to its polarimetric and interferometric capabilities as well as the high spatial resolution of up to 1 m, the TerraSAR-X sensor is a very interesting tool for oceanography. The presentation will give an overview of several applications, which are of both scientific and commercial interest like current and ocean wave measurements, monitoring of morphodynamical processes or high resolution wind field retrieval. The potential as well as limitations of the instrument are summarized and compared with existing sensors. Necessary steps to translate existing C-band SAR inversion algorithms for wind and wave measurements to X-band are discussed. A strategy is outlined to achieve this by a combination of theoretical investigations and the use of existing experimental data acquired by both airborne and groundbased X-band radar.