Coastal wind field retrievals from ERS SAR images

A unique series of ERS-1/2 C-band SAR images was obtained off the southern coast of Norway during the COAST WATCH´95 experiment in September 1995. In this paper the authors carry out a systematic analysis of the mesoscale coastal wind field conditions expressed in the SAR images. Four different categories of phenomena including wind rows, fetch limited seas, wind fronts and oceanographic fronts are examined and discussed. The quantitative retrievals of the wind field are based on examination of the backscatter characteristics and the spectral properties of the SAR image. Results are compared and validated against coincident ship and buoy data providing independent observations of the oceanographic and meteorological conditions