Can internal waves be used to detect organic films from space?

Author

da Silva, J.C.B. ; Ermakov, S.A. ; Robinson, L.S.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Oceanogr., Southampton Oceanogr. Centre, UK

Volume

5

fYear

1998

fDate

6-10 Jul 1998

Firstpage

2477

Abstract

A method for remote determination of the presence of surfactants in the sea surface microlayer based on observations of internal wave (IW) signatures on satellite radar imagery is proposed. It is shown that small variations of surfactant concentration that occur on shelf zones caused by tidal flow can modulate the surface signatures of IWs, producing different signatures according to the local film concentration and wind speed. An analysis and classification of ERS SAR signatures of short-period IWs on the Iberian shelf is presented

Keywords

backscatter; oceanographic techniques; radar cross-sections; remote sensing by radar; spaceborne radar; synthetic aperture radar; Iberian shelf; North Atlantic; SAR signature; chemical composition; internal wave; measurement technique; ocean; organic compound; organic film; radar imagery; radar remote sensing; satellite remote sensing; sea surface; sea surface microlayer; shelf zone; spaceborne radar; surface film; surface signature; surfactant; Hydrodynamics; Ocean temperature; Radar imaging; Radar remote sensing; Rough surfaces; Satellites; Sea surface; Spaceborne radar; Surface roughness; Surface waves;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium Proceedings, 1998. IGARSS '98. 1998 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Seattle, WA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-4403-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.1998.702251

Filename

702251