NADC SAR Imagery Of Coastal Waters And The Gulf Stream

Abstract

To quantify the physical processes responsible for features in synthetic aperture radar ( S A R ) images of the ocean, the Naval Air Development Center (NADC) SAR aircraft imaged an ocean area off of Cape Hatteras. During September 1991, six data collection flights were made over regions in the Gulf Stream and coastal waters. Simultaneous high resolution ocean truth data were collected by heavily instrumented vessels on the surface (USNS Bartlett and R/V Oceanus). Other remote sensing data were collected by an NRL aircraft, OSCR, and ERS-1. The NADC SAR aircraft collected data at different frequencies (X,C,and L-band) and polarizations. A catalog of the NADC SAR data collected in September 1991 containing a wide spectrum of features is presented. During periods of sustained low winds, slick-like features were observed in our SAR