Determination of the Wind-Velocity Vector Above the Ocean Surface Using the Image Spectrum of a Polarimetric Radar with Synthesized Aperture

Abstract

We propose a new method for determining the wind-velocity vector above the ocean surface using the data of a polarimetric synthetic aperture radar. The preliminary calculations show that for wind waves, the location of the maximum in the radar image is unambiguously related to the wind velocity, whereas the wind direction is retrieved with an uncertainty of 180°, which is related to the central symmetry of the image spectrum. To eliminate the ambiguity when determining the wind direction, a criterion based on the information on the sign of the coefficient of correlation among the complex signals on the co- and cross polarizations is used. It is shown that using the polarimetric radar, it is theoretically possible to obtain information on both the wind velocity and direction without exact radar calibration.