Wave directional spectrum from SAR imagery

Abstract

Gaussian smoothed SAR image spectra have been evaluated from 512 x 512 pixel sub- scenes of image mode ERS-1 SAR scenes off Goa, Visakhapatnam, Paradeep and Portugal. The two recently acquired scenes off Portugal showed the signature of swell of wavelength 200m and internal waves of wavelength > 400m. Only internal waves of wavelength > 400m were seen in the scene off Goa observed on 11 March 1992. The scenes off Visakhapatnam and Paradeep did not show any wave like features, the latter appearing to be of "white noise" nature. There exists a 180° ambiguity in wave direction observed from radar imageries. Based on the method of Atanassov et al (1985), a computer program has been developed for the removal of the 180° ambiguity by using two images of the same area separated by a time interval which is small compared to the period of the dominant waves. The computer program has been successfully tested with computer simulated images.