Radar Imaging of Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Phenomena

Abstract

A model for the short surface wave spectrum is presented, which includes the effects of wind forcing, surfactant damping, wave-current interactions, and wave breaking. A new analytical solution of the wave action equation was developed in order to account for wave-current interactions. The wave breaking model is based on a threshold criterion involving the vertical acceleration. The breaking fraction is then calculated as a function of the slope variance, and the backscatter is calculated from the Kirchhoff model by assuming a Gaussian correlation function within the breaking regions, Model predictions are compared with synthetic aperture radar observation made during the ONR/NRL High Resolution field experiment.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1993
Accession Number
ADA266339

Entities

People

  • Dave R. Lyzenga

Organizations

  • Environmental Research Institute of Michigan

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Backscattering
  • Data Analysis
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Diffraction
  • Doppler Radar
  • Electromagnetic Radiation
  • Electromagnetic Scattering
  • Equations
  • High Resolution
  • Measurement
  • Ocean Currents
  • Ocean Waves
  • Radar
  • Scattering
  • Surface Waves
  • Synthetic Aperture Radar

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science
  • Physics

Readers

  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers
  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics
  • Radar Systems Engineering.