On the fractal behavior of SAR images of ocean sea surface

The fractal properties of SAR images of the sea surface are currently studied by many researchers, but definite results have not been derived. We investigate the fractal behavior of SAR images of the sea surface by analyzing both real ERS-1 images and synthesized sea-surface images. These sea surfaces are obtained from a 2D fractal model using model parameters derived from real data measurements from buoys, acquired at the same locations and at the same dates of the ERS-1 passes. The analysis of fractal images is performed by two different fractal approaches and by an algorithm of multifractal analysis. Experimental results and comparisons are presented in terms of fractal dimension estimated both from sea spectra computed from ´in situ´ measurements, and from the corresponding true ERS-1 SAR images