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Wave and wind retrieval from sar images of the ocean

Estimation du Vent et des Vagues à Partir D’images rso de la Surface de L’océan

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Abstract

Over the past few years, recognition of the importance of the coastal zone has led to the establishment of international programmes for monitoring the coastal zone environment and its change. The European programme marsais is part of this effort. One important component of such actions aims to better predict the sea surface wind and wave dynamics in these vulnerable regions where most economic marine activity is taking place.

Indeed, ocean surface wind and wave observations serves both oceanographic and meteorological communities and have direct applications for driving ocean circulation models, numerical predictions and short term forecasts, but also for advancing in the physical understanding of the complex interactions that take place at the ocean-atmosphere interface. As now well recognised, satellite data and particularly the weather independent radar remote sensing data present potential advantages and applications to achieve these requirements. Nowadays, sea surface remote sensing techniques are rapidly developing throughout the world and need some kind of assessment. Altimetry and scatterometry are well proven techniques, which result in recognised operational applications. Synthetic Aperture Radar (sar) missions have not enjoyed such successes. However numerous space borne radar images of the ocean surface have revealed a wealth of information on different dynamical processes and sar images of the ocean surface very often reveal a remarkable range of signatures on the uppermost layers of the sea. These data have resulted in numerous quantitative scientific findings and theoretical advances in upper-layer and lower atmosphere dynamics. In this review, the main different techniques developed to retrieve surface wave and wind information are recalled. Illustrations are given for envisat wave mode products.

Résumé

Depuis quelques années la reconnaissance de l’importance de la zone côtière a conduit à l’établissement de programmes internationaux pour la surveillance de l’environnement et ses changements. Le programme européen marsais fait partie de cet effort. Une composante importante de telles actions a pour but de mieux prédire la dynamique du vent et des vagues à la surface des océans dans ces régions vulnérables où la plus grande partie de l’activité marine a lieu.

En effet, les observations du vent et des vagues à la surface de l’océan servent aussi bien les communautés d’océanographie que de météorologie et ont des applications directes pour forcer les modèles de circulation des océans, dans les modèles de prédiction numériques et les prévisions à court terme, mais aussi pour aider à comprendre les interactions complexes qui prennent place à l’interface océan-atmosphère. Ainsi qu’il est actuellement bien admis, les données satellitaires, et particulièrement celles provenant d’acquisitions par radar non affectées par les conditions météorologiques, présentent un potentiel d’avantages et d’applications pour répondre à ces besoins. De nos jours, les techniques de télédétection de la surface des océans se développent rapidement dans le monde et il est nécessaire de les évaluer. L’altimétrie et la diffusiométrie sont des techniques bien établies qui donnent des résultats en applications opérationnelles reconnues. Les missions Radars à Synthèse d’Ouverture (rso) n’ont pas eu un tel succès. Cependant de nombreuses images de l’océan par radars satellitaires ont révélé une grande richesse d’information sur différents processus dynamiques et ont très souvent montré une remarquable étendue de signatures des couches les plus proches de la surface. Ces données ont permis des découvertes scientifiques quantitatives et des avancées théoriques sur la dynamique des couches supérieures de l’océan et de la basse atmosphère. Dans ce papier, les principales techniques développées pour retrouver les informations de vents et vagues de surface sont rappelées. Des illustrations sont données pour les produits « vagues » du prochain satellite envisat.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ifremer, dro/os, BP70, 29280, Plouzané, France

    B. Chapron

  2. norut Information Technology, Tromso, Norway

    H. Johnsen

  3. ENST Bretagne, Dept Image et Traitement de l’Information, Technopôle Brest Iroise, BP832, 29285, Brest Cedex, France

    R. Garello

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Chapron, B., Johnsen, H. & Garello, R. Wave and wind retrieval from sar images of the ocean. Ann. Télécommun. 56, 682–699 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02995562

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