ANALYSIS OF OCEAN WAVE BY AIRBORNE PI-SAR X-BAND IMAGES

Abstract

In the present article, we analyze airborne Pi-SAR (Polarimetric-Interferometric SAR) X-band images of ocean waves around the Miyake Island at approximately 180 km south from Tokyo, Japan. Two images of a same scene were produced at approximately 40 min. interval from two directions at right angles. One image shows dominant range travelling waves, but the other image shows a different wave pattern. This difference can be caused by the different image modulations of RCS and velocity bunching. We have estimated the dominant wavelength from the image of range waves, and from the wave phase velocity computed from the dispersion relation (though no wave height data were available), the image intensity is computed by using the velocity bunching model. The comparison of the result with the second image at right angle strongly suggests the evidence of velocity bunching.