Spaceborne sar imaging of coastal ocean phenomena

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observes the large-scale ocean surface wind field. With SAR instruments, we can actively monitor phenomena in the coastal ocean and marine atmospheric boundary layer at very high spatial resolution (on the order of tens of meters) in all weather conditions day and night. SAR observations are particularly useful in coastal regions where clouds are usually present, causing observation problems for visible and infrared sensors. SAR sensors onboard the RADARSAT-1/2, ENVISAT, ALOS, and other satellites can provide swath coverage of about 100 to 450 km, wide enough to cover oceanic and atmospheric meso-scale features. SAR has long been used to monitor the ocean surface wind field, vessel locations, oil spills, sea state, and sea ice at NOAA. In this paper, we present several case studies.