Significant wave height estimation using azimuth cutoff of C-band RADARSAT-2 single-polarization SAR images

In this study, an empirical algorithm is proposed to retrieve significant wave height (SWH) from dual-polarization Sentinel-1 (S-1) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery collected under cyclonic conditions. The retrieval scheme is based on the well-known CWAVE empirical function that is here updated to deal with multi-polarization S-1 SAR measurements collected using the interferometric wide (IW) and the Extra Wide-Swath (EW) imaging modes, under cyclonic conditions. First, a training dataset that consists of six S-1 SAR images collected under cyclonic conditions is exploited to both tune the retrieval function and to check the soundness of the retrievals against the co-located WAVEWATCH-III (WW3) numerical simulations. The comparison of simulation from the WW3 model and measurements from altimeter Jason-2 shows a 0.29m root mean square error (RMSE) of significant wave height (SWH). Then, a testing data-set that consists of two S-1 SAR images is exploited to provide a preliminary validation. The results, verified against both WW3 and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) data, show the soundness of the herein approach.

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Estimation of Significant Wave Height of Near-Range Traveling Ocean Waves Using Sentinel-1 SAR Images

IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing ◽

10.1109/jstars.2019.2902566 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 1067-1075 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Fabian Surya Pramudya ◽

Jiayi Pan ◽

Adam Thomas Devlin

Keyword(s):

Wave Height ◽

Significant Wave Height ◽

Ocean Waves ◽

Sar Images ◽

Significant Wave

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An advanced inversion algorithm for significant wave height estimation based on random field

Ocean Engineering ◽

10.1016/j.oceaneng.2016.10.022 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 127 ◽

pp. 298-304 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Shuo Zhang ◽

Zhanjie Song ◽

Ying Li

Keyword(s):

Random Field ◽

Wave Height ◽

Significant Wave Height ◽

Inversion Algorithm ◽

Height Estimation ◽

Significant Wave

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On the Performance of the MPI Algorithm for the Retrieval of Significant Wave Height From ERS Synthetic Aperture Radar

Volume 2: Safety and Reliability; Pipeline Technology ◽

10.1115/omae2003-37070 ◽

2003 ◽

Author(s):

Nelson Violante-Carvalho ◽

Ian S. Robinson

Keyword(s):

Synthetic Aperture Radar ◽

Wave Height ◽

Significant Wave Height ◽

Synthetic Aperture ◽

Wave Spectra ◽

Sar Images ◽

Significant Wave ◽

Directional Wave ◽

Better Than ◽

Aperture Radar

Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is to date the only source of two dimensional directional wave spectra with continuous and global coverage when operated in the so-called SAR Wave Mode (SWM). Since the launch in 1991 of the first European Remote Sensing Satellite ERS-1 and more recently with ENVISAT millions of SWM imagettes containing detailed spectral information are now available in quasi-real time. This huge amount of directional wave data has opened up many exciting possibilities for the improvement of our knowledge of the dynamics of ocean waves. However the retrieval of wave spectra from SAR images is not a trivial exercise due to the nonlinearities involved in the mapping mechanism. The Max-Planck Institut (MPI) scheme was the first ever proposed and most widely used algorithm to retrieve directional wave spectra from SAR images. In this work significant wave height retrieved from SAR images using the MPI scheme are compared against one year of directional buoy measurements obtained in deep water and against WAM spectra. Our results show that for periods shorter than 12 seconds the WAM model performs better than the MPI method, even considering the fact that the model is used as first guess to the MPI scheme. However, for periods longer than 12 seconds (the part of the spectrum directly observed by SAR) the MPI method performs better than WAM. This is in contrast with the results obtained by Voorrips et al. (2001), who found that the performance of the WAM model is superior even when only the low wavenumber part of the spectrum is considered.

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