Spatial distribution of swell wave properties in a coastal area using satellite images

Three satellite images, two SAR and one SPOT have been processed using fast Fourier transform analysis in order to provide swell wave length fields in a shallow water area (70 to 10 m water depth) off the Arcachon inlet (France). Three corresponding bathymetries have been obtained assuming conservation of the wave period. These fields compare well with a large scale reference bathymetry for the main features. They are of course more noisy, especially the SPOT bathymetry, but part of the differences corresponds to real structures such as series of humps and hollows perturbing the 40-m isobath revealed on a more detailed bathymetry