Measurement of Ocean Surface Currents from Space with Multifrequency Microwave Radars-A System Analysis

The use of multifrequency microwave radars to measure ocean surface currents from satellites is considered in this paper. We discuss the effects that satellite motion background backscatter from the ocean surface, and receiver noise have on the ability of such systems to obtain current maps. We present an example which shows that radars in geostationary orbit have the potential to map ocean currents over large areas of the ocean surface.