Study of Sea-State Variability and Wave Groupiness Using TerraSAR-X Synthetic Aperture Radar Data

Abstract

The high resolution of the TerraSAR-X (TSX) satellite images is particularly useful to observe and measure the variability in complex sea-states in coastal areas or near islands. In this paper a comparison between the classical sea state parameters (significant wave height, mean period and direction) obtained from SAR spectra and from buoy data is presented, which is followed by the comparison of spectral width parameters off the coasts of the Archipelago of Azores (Portugal). This is an important characteristic of sea-states for wave energy conversion. A quite reasonable agreement between buoy and TSX parameters has been found thus giving confidence to use these remotely sensed measurements with focus on sea-state characterization having in view the conversion of wave energy into useful electrical energy.