The significant wave height distribution retrieved from marine X-band radar images

Author

Chen, Zhongbiao ; He, Yijun ; Yin, Baoshu ; Qiu, Zhongfeng

Author_Institution

Inst. of Oceanol., Qingdao, China

fYear

2012

fDate

22-27 July 2012

Firstpage

2641

Lastpage

2644

Abstract

The determination of significant wave height (SWH) from marine X-band radar image sequences is based on an empirical relationship with the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). To reduce the dependence of in-situ calibrations, the variations of SNR with the range from the radar station and the relative azimuth between the antenna looking angle and the wave propagation direction are analyzed. Then a method was developed to correlate the SNR with the fluctuations of the sea surface elevations, by taking out the variations of SNR with range and azimuth. Moreover, the method is validated using marine X-band radar image sequences from a field experiment, comparisons of the corrected SNR with a buoy show that the method gives a more accurate estimation of SWH than the uncorrected SNR does. Besides, the method can remove the influence of the noise caused by light rain as well.

Keywords

geophysical image processing; image sequences; ocean waves; oceanographic techniques; radar imaging; antenna looking angle; empirical relationship; light rain; marine X-band radar image sequences; marine X-band radar images; sea surface elevations; signal-to-noise ratio; significant wave height distribution; wave propagation direction; Azimuth; Image sequences; Radar antennas; Radar imaging; Sea surface; Signal to noise ratio; Coastal engineering; Marine X-band radar; Radar image sequence; Sea surface elevation; Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR);

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2012 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Munich

ISSN

2153-6996

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-1160-1

Electronic_ISBN

2153-6996

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2012.6350386

Filename

6350386