Coastal imagery from the polarimetric airborne SAR PHARUS

Polarimetric SAR imagery of a coastal scene is discussed, in terms of polarimetric and kinematic properties of waves on the sea and breaking waves in the surf zone. The coastal zone is a dynamic environment, and there is an increasing demand for monitoring it. Remote sensing can be an economic solution, and this paper explores some possibilities for extracting relevant coastal zone information from polarimetric SAR data. It focuses on the use of polarization for sea wave measurement, coast line determination, and estimation of surf zone parameters. While this work is based on airborne SAR, the results should also pertain to polarimetric satellite systems, especially as a steep incidence angle mode was used. When acquiring polarimetric data, a proper calibration is essential. As the use of dedicated calibration devices in the field is expensive, there is an interest in using scene parameters for calibration. The paper discusses some issues with this approach that arise in coastal areas.