Abstract
The main highlights of TerraSAR-X (TS-X) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery are a higher resolution of up to 1 m, when compared to conventional C-band SAR data, and a reduction of nonlinear imaging effects of a moving target by lower platform altitude. Thus, ocean waves with wavelength <30 m are detectable. This makes TS-X particularly useful to observe coastal areas where complex bathymetry strongly impacts the approaching waves. TS-X images acquired in different coastal areas are presented, including three case studies at the German coast. Wave fields (significant wave height and peak wavelength) are derived from the TS-X imagery using the proposed XWAVE algorithm and compared not only to in situ buoy wave measurements but also to results of a high-resolution numerical wave model. The objective is to study the quality of significant wave height field estimation in the spatial domain in highly variable conditions, which are typically dominant in coastal areas. The results show that the empirical XWAVE algorithm allows estimating wave fields from TS-X data with high resolution, thus showing the spatial information on wave variations. Therefore, it is a new useful tool to characterize sea state in coastal areas by remote sensing.
Highlights
In the open ocean, in deep waters, and during nonstorm conditions, wave properties do not change significantly in the order of several kilometers
We show three case studies of TS-X imagery acquired over coastal areas and derive the significant wave height fields
The coefficients a0 to a6 are tuning parameters, which are found after fitting the TS-X derived parameters E, α, and θ with significant wave height given by the in situ buoy wave measurements using the least squares method
Summary
In deep waters, and during nonstorm conditions, wave properties do not change significantly (e.g., significant wave height and wave period remain the same) in the order of several kilometers. In order for numerical wave models to predict accurately the wave field (e.g., significant wave height or peak wavelength) in coastal ocean areas, it needs correct input of wave and wind information for the model mesh boundary, and an up-to-date fine meshed bathymetry (underwater topography). The TerraSAR-X (TS-X) satellite provides high-resolution (up to 1 m) SAR images of the ocean surface, spatial resolution which was not available with the previous conventional C-band satellites, e.g., ERS and ENVISAT missions This makes TS-X data especially suitable for coastal surface wave field observation, especially to observe the considerably changing seastate properties. In situ buoy wave measurements are provided by the North West European Shelf Operational Oceanographic System through the site http://www.noos.cc/
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