Synthetic aperture radar imaging of moving ocean waves

Abstract

A theory for the radar imaging of ocean waves is presented under the assumptions that a swell propagates through an ensemble of Bragg scatterers and that the integration time of the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is small compared to the angular velocity of the swell. Results are prsented which show image development and distortions caused by the radial velocities and accelerations of the swell. Neglecting small wave bunching and tilts due to the longer underlying waves, and considering only one-dimensional geometries, the mechanism of wave motions are considered and their efforts on the production of the usual intensity Pattern representing the wave image are studied. The analysis shows that in certain situations a processed image can appear which has twice the spatial period of the actual long wave on the ocean, which can confuse the interpretation of ocean wave analysis.