SAR response to spatially and temporally varying wind fields

This paper discusses some considerations involved in modeling the transient effects associated with unsteady or non-uniform wind fields over the ocean. The spectral energy balance equation is solved for some simple cases in which the wind varies in time or space, using various formulations for the wind input and dissipation terms. An overshoot effect is shown to occur when the energy dissipation rate is assumed to be proportional to the velocity variance due to longer waves in the spectrum. Examples are presented and some implications for SAR image interpretation are discussed