Abstract
The instrument SWIM (Surface Waves Investigation and Monitoring) on the CFOSAT (Chinese French Oceanographic Satellite) project aims at measuring the directional spectra of ocean waves on a 180 km wide swath. Orbiting on a 500 km sun-synchronous orbit, it provides with a global full coverage of the oceans between -80 and 80°. It consists in a real aperture radar (RAR) operating in Ku-band (13.575 GHz) on 6 distinct beams pointing at incidence angles from 0° (nadir) to 10°, while scanning the whole azimuth angles (0-360°). The nadir beam is similar to the one provided by a standard altimeter. Its main objective is to measure the significant wave height and wind speed (from the measurement of the radar cross section). Radar cross-sections are also estimated from 2 to 10° off-nadir observations, then ensuring the access to profiles dependence with incidence and azimuth angles. Appropriate processes of observations at 4 to 10° incidence provide with an estimate of the spectral properties of the local wave field ([1-2]).
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