Evidence of a land breeze in an ERS-1 SAR image of the New Jersey coastline

The modulation patterns observed in microwave synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of the ocean surface depend strongly on the spatial variation of those components of the surface wave height spectrum whose scales are comparable to the wavelength of the SAR. Because the magnitude of these spectral components depends on the local wind vector, meso- and sub-mesoscale flow variations in the marine atmospheric boundary layer will produce characteristic signatures in SAR imagery via their momentum exchange with the ocean surface. The authors therefore expect SAR to be a powerful sensor for studying the vast array of phenomena that are found in the marine atmospheric boundary layer. Initial confirmation of these expectations have, in fact, already been realized. For example, the authors have previously analyzed backscatter variations present in an ERS-1 SAR image in order to reveal the existence and depth of an atmospheric mixed layer. In the present paper, they show how the intensity variations in a SAR image can be employed to reveal the sea surface manifestation of a land breeze