Estimation of wave spectra with swim on cfosat - illustration on a real case

SWIM (Surface Wave Investigation and Monitoring) is a spaceborne radar pointing at nadir and small incidence angles, scanning in azimuth. It is designed for the measurement of directional ocean wave spectra and will be embarked on the CFOSAT (China France Oceanography SATellite) mission to be launched in 2014. The CFOSAT project is now in the C/D phase (manufacturing phase). Taking into account the very last definition of the instrument, we present here the expected performances for estimates of significant wave height and spectral parameters of long ocean waves. These performances have been obtained using numerical simulations taking into account instrument specifications and realistic sea surface conditions, in particular those corresponding to the Atlantic storm of November 2002, which caused the Prestige ship sinking and its terrible oil slick.