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New Ocean Waves and Wind Information Derived From RADARSAT-2
About GRIP Thematic Areas Lead Departments Events Contact
May, 2009
Ocean waves are a very important marine physical factor for coastal protection, offshore oil and gas development, transportation, people involved in fisheries, and marine recreation, wind and wave energy farms. Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR), such as Radarsat-2, can provide large area high spatial resolution observations of ocean waves under all-weather conditions. Development of new improved retrievals of wave and wind information by means of polarimetric RADARSAT-2 data in open-sea and coastal regions can contribute to improved marine forecasts in these areas. Improved wave and wind information is directly relevant to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) priorities. Through CSA's Government Related Initiatives Program (GRIP), DFO will use Radarsat-2 polarimetric data to retrieve marine winds and waves, and validate these algorithms using in situ buoy observations and other high quality data.
Figure 1 - RADARSAT-2 SAR image over the Gulf Stream, South of Cape Cod, on 7 March 2009 at 22:29:37. The corresponding wind field is given in Figure 2. The outline of the Gulf Stream is clearly evident in the SAR image in Figure 1, and in the wind field in Figure 2.
RADARSAT-2 Data and Products © MacDONALD, DETTWILER AND ASSOCIATES LTD (2009) – All Rights Reserved. RADARSAT is an official mark of the Canadian Space Agency.
Figure 2. Wind speed on 7 March 2009 at 22:29:27.
This GRIP project is been conducted by DFO's Bedford Institute of Oceanography in close partnership with the Department of National Defence and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
RADARSAT-2 Data and Products © MacDONALD, DETTWILER AND ASSOCIATES LTD (2009) – All Rights Reserved. RADARSAT is an official mark of the Canadian Space Agency.
For more information, please contact:
PerrieW@mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Guy.Aube@asc-csa.gc.ca
Paul.Briand@asc-csa.gc.ca
GRIP web site:
www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/programs/grip/default.asp
