Ocean Remote Sensing with Synthetic Aperture Radar

The ocean covers approximately 71% of the Earth’s surface, 90% of the biosphere and contains 97% of Earth’s water. The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can image the ocean surface in all weather conditions and day or night. SAR remote sensing on ocean and coastal monitoring has become a research hotspot in geoscience and remote sensing. This book—Progress in SAR Oceanography—provides an update of the current state of the science on ocean remote sensing with SAR. Overall, the book presents a variety of marine applications, such as, oceanic surface and internal waves, wind, bathymetry, oil spill, coastline and intertidal zone classification, ship and other man-made objects’ detection, as well as remotely sensed data assimilation. The book is aimed at a wide audience, ranging from graduate students, university teachers and working scientists to policy makers and managers. Efforts have been made to highlight general principles as well as the state-of-the-art technologies in the field of SAR Oceanography

The effect of the Agulhas Current on synthetic aperture radar derived wind fields

In this study, 5 years (987 swaths) of high resolution wind speeds, derived from Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar data collected over the Agulhas Current region, are studied to investigate the effect of warm, high intensity currents on the ocean's surface roughness and resulting derived wind fields. The wind data are derived using the CMOD5.n GMF with CFS reanalysis wind data as direction input. The CFS direction data are validated using ASCAT derived wind observations Globcurrent ocean current velocity data is used to investigate the difference between the satellite derived wind speeds compared to surface velocities of the current and the true wind speed. The, so called, current-relative effect is investigated for different wind direction regimes, namely: upcurrent, downcurrent, crosscurrent west and crosscurrent east. Our analyses are conducted for 6 locations of interest, evenly spaced along the Northern Agulhas Current. MODIS, SEVIRI and OSTIA SST data are used as proxy for locating the core of the Agulhas and it's temperature fronts, as well as to investigate wind speed modifications as a result of ocean-atmosphere energy transfer. It is found that higher resolution SAR derived winds have a greater ability to represent higher intensity and smaller scale wind features in comparison to winds derived from Scatterometers. A combination of the current relative effect and SST-atmospheric heating for upcurrent wind directions results in a sharp increase in mean wind speeds over the inshore boundary of the current of between 5m/s and 7m/s (50−60%). Individual events can reach as high as 15m/s (100%) over 10′s of kilometres. For downcurrent winds, the expected current relative effect is overridden by increased wind speeds of up to 5m/s (40%) across the entire current due to the influence of SSTs. The mean effect of SSTs on wind speeds has a stronger effect than the current relative effect on wind speed changes over the current. The wind speed differences are best represented under moderate wind speeds, between 5−15m/s. This investigation will contribute to future satellite wind speed derivations to identifying new wind speed and surface roughness altering effects. It will also serve to increase understanding of high resolution wind features and sharp changes over ocean features

Contributions to land, sea, and sea ice remote sensing using GNSS-reflectometry

This PhD thesis researches the use of passive remote sensing techniques using signals transmitted from the navigation satellites (GNSS) in order to retrieve different geophysical parameters. The thesis consists of two different parts without taking into account the introduction, the state of the art and the conclusions. The first part analyzes the Interference Pattern Technique (IPT), which was previously used in another PhD thesis, and proposes some key improvements. First, the addition of horizontal polarization to the existing vertical polarization is proposed. Then, the retrieval of soil moisture is studied using the horizontal polarization only and combining both polarizations to correct for the surface roughness effects. It is also demonstrated that the phase difference between the two interference patterns is directly related to soil moisture content. A field campaign was conducted in Australia to test empirically all the theoretical developments and algorithms. Secondly, the possibility of measuring Significant Wave Height (SWH) and Mean Sea Surface Level (MSSL) using the IPT is studied. A three month field campaign over coastal sea is devoted to that study. The SWH retrieval is a new estimation algorithm based on measuring the point where the interference pattern loses coherence. The MSSL retrieval is based on the estimation of the IPT oscillation frequency, testing different spectral estimators to improve the accuracy. Since the IPT is limited in coverage due to its static requirements, the research conducted in this thesis migrated to scatterometric GNSS-R techniques. The main goal that migration was to increase coverage of the different GNSS-R instruments. Therefore, the second part of this thesis analyzes the applicability of a scatterometric technique from different platforms: ground-based (mobile and fixed), airborne, and spaceborne. The ground-based still platforms have allowed to develop a soil moisture retrieval algorithm. The ground-based moving platforms have extended the validity of that algorithm. Airborne platforms have been used to study the reflected electric field statistics when the surface reflecting surface is varying (smooth or rough land, and sea). They have also been used to develop different algorithms to measure the coherent and incoherent scattered components depending on the data structure (real-data or complex data). Coherent reflectivity measured from airborne platforms has been compared to other techniques such microwave radiometry, which is highly used in the soil moisture retrieval from spaceborne sensors, and other sensors using optical, multispectral and thermal frequency bands. These relationships between microwave radiometry and GNSS-R measurements suggests the potential synergy of both techniques. A sea ice detection algorithm is also developed using scatterometric GNSS-R data from the UK TDS-1 mission. This algorithm is based on measuring the degree of coherence of the reflected waveform. Finally, a field campaign was conducted to study the effect of vegetation on the GNSS signals that pass through it in order to take into account and correct the effect of vegetation in the GNSS-R data and in the soil moisture retrieval algorithms.Aquesta tesi doctoral aprofundeix en el coneixement de les tècniques de teledetecció passives utilitzant senyals emesos pels satèl·lits de navegació (GNSS) amb l'objectiu de recuperar diferents paràmetres geofísics del terreny. La tesi conté dues parts ben diferenciades a banda de la introducció, estat de l'art i conclusions. La primera part analitza la tècnica coneguda com a patró d'interferències, utilitzada prèviament en una altra tesi doctoral, i proposa certes millores per la seva aplicabilitat. En primer lloc es decideix afegir polarització horitzontal a la ja existent polarització vertical, i s'estudia la recuperació d'humitat del sòl utilitzant només polarització horitzontal i combinant les dues polaritzacions per corregir els efectes de la rugositat del terreny. A continuació es demostra que la mesura de desfasament entre els dos patrons d'interferència està directament relacionada amb la humitat del terreny. Es va realitzar una campanya de mesures a Austràlia per provar empíricament tots els desenvolupaments teòrics i algorismes proposats. En segon lloc s'analitza l'aplicabilitat del patró d'interferències en la mesura de l'altura de les onades (SWH) i del nivell del mar (MSSL), tots dos de forma precisa. L'estimació de l'alçada de les onades és un procés totalment nou basat en mesurar el punt on el patró d'interferències perd la coherència. L'estimació del nivell del mar es basa en l'anàlisi espectral del patró d'interferències provant diferents estimadors espectrals. Atès que la tècnica del patró d'interferència està limitada en cobertura per les seves característiques estàtiques, la investigació duta a terme en aquesta tesi doctoral va migrar cap a tècniques GNSS-R escateromètriques. El principal objectiu a assolir va ser el d'augmentar la cobertura dels diferents instruments GNSS-R de mesura. En conseqüència, la segona part d'aquesta tesi analitza l'aplicabilitat d'aquestes tècniques des de diferents plataformes terrestres (mòbils i fixes), aerotransportades i satèl·lit. Les plataformes terrestres fixes han permès derivar algoritmes de recuperació d'humitat i les mòbils estendre la validació d'aquests. Les plataformes aerotransportades s'han utilitzat per mirar l'estadística del camp elèctric reflectit quan la superfície on es reflecteixen els senyals GNSS va variant (terra plana o terra rugosa, i mar). També han servit per desenvolupar diferents algorismes amb l'objectiu de determinar les components coherent i incoherent del senyal reflectit. De la mateixa manera, dades de reflectivitat coherent mesurades des d'aquestes plataformes han estat comparades amb altres tècniques de teledetecció passiva com la radiometria de microones, altament utilitzada en la mesura d'humitat de terreny, i altres sensors òptics, multi-espectrals, i tèrmics. Aquests resultats han permès suggerir la possible sinergia de dades d'ambdues tecnologies. Un algorisme per detectar la presència de gel sobre el mar també ha estat desenvolupat mitjançant l'ús de dades GNSS-R escateromètriques satel·litals de la missió UK TDS-1. Aquest algorisme es basa en mesurar el grau de coherència de la forma d'ona reflectida. Finalment, s'ha realitzat un estudi de l'efecte de la vegetació en els senyals GNSS que la travessen, per tal de poder corregir aquest efecte en els algoritmes de recuperació d'humitat del terreny

Description statistique de la surface océanique et mesures conjointes micro-ondes (une analyse cohérente)

De plus en plus de données satellitales ou aéroportées acquises au dessus de la surface de la mer sont disponibles notamment dans la gamme micro-ondes. Pour interpréter correctement ces données, il est nécessaire de disposer d'une part d'un modèle de diffusion qui soit capable de prendre en compte l'aspect multi-échelles de la surface de mer et d'autre part une bonne représentation spectrale de la surface de mer. Ces dernières années, plusieurs modèles de diffusion électromagnétiques unifiés (capables de prendre en compte la diffusion électromagnétique pour les petites et grandes vagues) ont été développés sous statistiques gaussiennes de la surface de mer. Cependant, ces modèles sont insuffisants pour interpréter les observations lorsque différents jeux de données (multi-bande et multi-incidence) sont confrontés. Le plus de cette thèse est de progresser dans une modélisation cohérente de ces données radar.La première étape est d'incorporer les aspects non-gaussiens de la surface de mer, connus pour influer significativement sur la section efficace de rétrodiffusion (SER). Cela est réalisé dans le cadre du modèle électromagnétique "Weighted Curvature Approximation (WCA) en introduisant le kurtosis des pentes et en se limitant à la SER omnidirectionnelle et à la polarisation verticale.Ces corrections permettent une meilleure modélisation de la section efficace radar mais ne sont pas suffisantes pour obtenir un accord avec les données dans toutes les configurations (bande, incidence, vent). Cela suggère une amélioration nécessaire du spectre des vagues courtes, qui fait l'objet de la deuxième partie de ces travaux de recherche.Un nouveau spectre omnidirectionnel est calculé afin d'obtenir une meilleure modélisation de la SER omnidirectionnelle en polarisation verticale tout en respectant des contraintes a priori sur les pentes mesurées par des techniques optiques. Ce spectre s'avère assez semblable au spectre unifié d'Elfouhaily, avec quelques différences notables cependant dans la gamme des échelles décimétriques.More and more micro-wave data are available from spatial and airborne measurements over sea surface. An accurate backscattering model which is capable of taking the multi-scale aspect of the sea surface into account, is required to model correctly the data as well as a precise sea spectrum. Several unified backscattering models have been developed in recent years under Gaussian statistics. However, these models are not able to give a correct modelization of the backscattered signal when different data sets are studied together. One of the objectives of this study is to improve the modelization of the backscattered signal to get better agreement with the data.The first step of this study is to include non Gaussian statistics into backscattering model as it is well known they have a significant impact on the normalized radar cross section (NRCS). Then, a non Gaussian version of the Weighted Curvature Approximation was developed taking the kurtosis of slopes into account. This work was based only upon vertical polarization.It is then shown that the corrections allow a better agreement with the data but they are not sufficient to get a good estimation of the NRCS for all incidences and electromagnetic frequencies. This induces the hypothesis of a modification of the short wave sea spectrum.Then, a new parametrisation of the omnidirectional sea spectrum is suggested to get a better agreement with the multiband data sets and is based on the spectrum developed by Elfouhaily et al. The new omnidirectional short wave sea spectrum is quite alike the Elfouhaily s spectrum with some noticeable differences for the decimetric scales.TOULON-Bibliotheque electronique (830629901) / SudocSudocFranceF