Sea ice thickness measurement and its underside morphology analysis using radar penetration in the Arctic Ocean

Sea ice, as an important component of the Arctic climate system, has drawn significant sci-entific interest. Sea ice thickness and its morphology have dramatic impacts on ocean-atmos- phere-ice interactions[1—4], which directly affect the exchange proces…     

Ocean wind fields retrieved from the advanced synthetic aperture radar aboard ENVISAT

In this paper an algorithm is presented which enables high-resolution ocean surface wind fields to be retrieved from the advanced synthetic aperture radar (ASAR) data acquired by the European remote sensing satellite ENVISAT. Wind directions are extracted from wind-induced streaks that are visible in ASAR images at scales above 200 m and that are approximately in line with the mean surface wind direction. Wind speeds are derived from the normalized radar cross section (NRCS) and image geometry of the calibrated ASAR images, together with the local ASAR-retrieved wind direction. Therefore the empirical C-band model CMOD4, which describes the dependency of the NRCS on wind and image geometry, is used. CMOD4 is a semi-empirical model, which was originally developed for the scatterometer of the European remote sensing satellites ERS-1 and 2 operating at C-band with vertical polarization. Consequently, CMOD4 requires modification when applied to ASAR images that were acquired with horizontal polarization in transmitting and receiving. This is performed by considering the polarization ratio of the NRCS. To demonstrate the applicability of the algorithm, wind fields were computed from several ENVISAT ASAR images of the North Sea and compared to atmospheric model results of the German weather service.Acknowledgements The authors were supported by the German Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) in the framework of the project. A new perspective of the Ocean ENVISAT Oceanography (ENVOC). The ENVISAT ASAR data were kindly made available by the European Space Agency in the framework of the ENVISAT Project AO-ID 220, Biological and geophysical parameters from synthetic aperture radar over the ocean (BIGPASO).     

消除海底起伏影响的海洋地震波场正反向延拓

为了解决海底起伏变化对地震波场的影响问题,本文提出将（x-z）域中的曲网格映射成（ξ,η）域中的矩形网格,推导出（ξ,η）域中的二维标量声波方程,根据推导出来的波动方程采用逆时有限差分法将海面上采集到的地震波场在（ξ,η）域中向下延拓至海底面,延拓时采用海水的速度,然后采用顺时有限差分法将延拓后的地震波场再反延拓到海面上,延拓时采用海底面以下地层的速度,从而消除了海底起伏带来的负面影响。模型及实际地震资料的计算分析表明该方法不但能够校正由于海底起伏所引起的海底面下地层反射波场的不连续性还能够校正由于海底起伏所引起的地震波的动力学特征的变化。对延拓前后的地震波场进行速度反演,延拓后反演的地层速度比延拓前反演的地层速度的精度提高很多,延拓前后地震波场的叠加剖面对比表明该延拓方法能够明显提高地震波场的成像质量。     

“龙王”台风期间高频地波雷达数据分析

OSMAR2003岸基高频地波雷达系统由武汉大学电波传播实验室研制并于2005年应用于福建沿海,能够全天候、大面积探测台湾海峡内海洋表面动力学要素. 本文首先将0519号台风期间高频地波雷达的测量数据与局部点的浮标数据对比，然后又对大面积海域内雷达测量风场与uikSCAT卫星遥感数据进行了对比分析. 结果表明高频地波雷达较好地反映了台风期间台湾海峡内风场的空间分布及其发展变化情况，具有一定的灾害性海洋天气监测能力.     

Diffraction problems of 3D seismic imaging

Migration is essential to seismic imaging. It is carried out by backward extrapolation of the wavefield registered on the observation surface. The quality of images depends on the accuracy of the wavefield reconstruction at interior subsurface points. From the theory based on the exact solution of the scalar wave equation it is known that, for accurate wave extrapolation, data must be obtained from an infinite observation surface. Limiting of migration apertures, which is inevitable in practice, leads to artefacts in extrapolated fields. The distortion they cause in 2D and 3D imaging is different. In 2D migration, the artefacts known as truncation effects are much weaker than the signals being extrapolated and for this reason attract no special attention. In 3D migration, diffractions caused by an aperture edge are stronger and may create serious problems. For a circular aperture, their amplitudes are comparable to the amplitudes of the signals themselves. The study of aperture diffractions is intended to help in the search for ways of either suppressing them efficiently or deliberately utilizing them in order to improve imaging.
In optics, diffractions by an aperture play a constructive role in image making. This research shows that the same may take place in seismic imaging.     

Correcting surface winds by assimilating high-frequency radar surface currents in the German Bight

Surface winds are crucial for accurately modeling the surface circulation in the coastal ocean. In the present work, high-frequency radar surface currents are assimilated using an ensemble scheme which aims to obtain improved surface winds taking into account European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts winds as a first guess and surface current measurements. The objective of this study is to show that wind forcing can be improved using an approach similar to parameter estimation in ensemble data assimilation. Like variational assimilation schemes, the method provides an improved wind field based on surface current measurements. However, the technique does not require an adjoint, and it is thus easier to implement. In addition, it does not rely on a linearization of the model dynamics. The method is validated directly by comparing the analyzed wind speed to independent in situ measurements and indirectly by assessing the impact of the corrected winds on model sea surface temperature (SST) relative to satellite SST.     

TEMPORAL MONITORING OF SOIL MOISTURE USING ERS-1 SAR DATA

Multi-temporal synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery from the European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1) was evaluated for monitoring soil moisture at the Romney Marsh test site as part of the UK SAR Calibration and Crop Backscatter Experiment. A total of 18 C-band (5.3 GHz) ERS-1 SAR images were acquired during the three day orbit and co-registered. Accurate calibration of the backscatter measurements was achieved using calibration constants derived from an analysis of corner reflector target responses. Mean backscatter measurements were recorded for each field and compared with field data on soil moisture, surface roughness and rainfall patterns. A comparison of daily and hourly rainfall and soil moisture measurements with backscatter for different cover types showed that the observed trends in backscatter are dominated by moisture effects. A high positive correlation between volumetric soil moisture in the range 10–40% was observed for bare soil fields. A much weaker positive relationship between soil moisture and backscatter was observed for grassland fields.     

Intercomparison of oceanic and atmospheric forced and coupled mesoscale simulations. Part I: Surface fluxes

A mesoscale non-hydrostatic atmospheric model has been coupled with a mesoscale oceanic model. The case study is a four-day simulation of a strong storm event observed during the SEMAPHORE experiment over a 500 × 500 km² domain. This domain encompasses a thermohaline front associated with the Azores current. In order to analyze the effect of mesoscale coupling, three simulations are compared: the first one with the atmospheric model forced by realistic sea surface temperature analyses; the second one with the ocean model forced by atmospheric fields, derived from weather forecast re-analyses; the third one with the models being coupled. For these three simulations the surface fluxes were computed with the same bulk parametrization. All three simulations succeed well in representing the main oceanic or atmospheric features observed during the storm. Comparison of surface fields with in situ observations reveals that the winds of the fine mesh atmospheric model are more realistic than those of the weather forecast re-analyses. The low-level winds simulated with the atmospheric model in the forced and coupled simulations are appreciably stronger than the re-analyzed winds. They also generate stronger fluxes. The coupled simulation has the strongest surface heat fluxes: the difference in the net heat budget with the oceanic forced simulation reaches on average 50 Wm⁻² over the simulation period. Sea surface-temperature cooling is too weak in both simulations, but is improved in the coupled run and matches better the cooling observed with drifters. The spatial distributions of sea surface-temperature cooling and surface fluxes are strongly inhomogeneous over the simulation domain. The amplitude of the flux variation is maximum in the coupled run. Moreover the weak correlation between the cooling and heat flux patterns indicates that the surface fluxes are not responsible for the whole cooling and suggests that the response of the ocean mixed layer to the atmosphere is highly non-local and enhanced in the coupled simulation.     

Coastal pollution hazards in southern California observed by SAR imagery: stormwater plumes, wastewater plumes, and natural hydrocarbon seeps

Stormwater runoff plumes, municipal wastewater plumes, and natural hydrocarbon seeps are important pollution hazards for the heavily populated Southern California Bight (SCB). Due to their small size, dynamic and episodic nature, these hazards are difficult to sample adequately using traditional in situ oceanographic methods. Complex coastal circulation and persistent cloud cover can further complicate detection and monitoring of these hazards. We use imagery from space-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR), complemented by field measurements, to examine these hazards in the SCB. The hazards are detectable in SAR imagery because they deposit surfactants on the sea surface, smoothing capillary and small gravity waves to produce areas of reduced backscatter compared with the surrounding ocean. We suggest that high-resolution SAR, which obtains useful data regardless of darkness or cloud cover, could be an important observational tool for assessment and monitoring of coastal marine pollution hazards in the SCB and other urbanized coastal regions.     

基于合成孔径技术CSAMT成像研究

可控源音频大地电磁测深(CSAMT)在实际生产中具有广泛的应用,但依然存在着一些急需解决的问题,需引进新技术和方法,提高其探测、解释精度.根据CSAMT中同一目标体相邻的回波信号具有很强的相关性,借助合成孔径思想,对CSAMT数据进行相关叠加合成,进而提高其探测精度.本文首先解决了把应用于波动场的合成孔径技术应用到频率域扩散场中,再通过模型算例表明合成孔径技术可以有效的增强弱信号、提高分辨率、减小场源效应、提高信噪比等,通过噪声加载,也进一步证实了合成孔径成像技术在CSAMT的有效性.     

Two‐dimensional hydraulic flood modelling using a finite‐element mesh decomposed according to vegetation and topographic features derived from airborne scanning laser altimetry

Airborne scanning laser altimetry (LiDAR) is an important new data source that can provide two‐dimensional river flood models with spatially distributed floodplain topography for model bathymetry, together with vegetation heights for parameterization of model friction. Methods are described for improving such models by decomposing the model's finite‐element mesh to reflect floodplain vegetation features such as hedges and trees having different frictional properties to their surroundings, and significant floodplain topographic features having high height curvatures. The decomposition is achieved using an image segmentation system that converts the LiDAR height image into separate images of surface topography and vegetation height at each point. The vegetation height map is used to estimate a friction factor at each mesh node. The spatially distributed friction model has the advantage that it is physically based, and removes the need for a model calibration exercise in which free parameters specifying friction in the channel and floodplain are adjusted to achieve best fit between modelled and observed flood extents. The scheme was tested in a modelling study of a flood that occurred on the River Severn, UK, in 1998. A satellite synthetic aperture radar image of flood extent was used to validate the model predictions. The simulated hydraulics using the decomposed mesh gave a better representation of the observed flood extent than the more simplistic but computationally efficient approach of sampling topography and vegetation friction factors on to larger floodplain elements in an undecomposed mesh, as well as the traditional approach using no LiDAR‐derived data but simply using a constant floodplain friction factor. Use of the decomposed mesh also allowed velocity variations to be predicted in the neighbourhood of vegetation features such as hedges. These variations could be of use in predicting localized erosion and deposition patterns that might result in the event of a flood. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Detection of macroalgae blooms by complex SAR imagery

Increased frequency and enhanced damage to the marine environment and to human society caused by green macroalgae blooms demand improved high-resolution early detection methods. Conventional satellite remote sensing methods via spectra radiometers do not work in cloud-covered areas, and therefore cannot meet these demands for operational applications. We present a methodology for green macroalgae bloom detection based on RADARSAT-2 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. Green macroalgae patches exhibit different polarimetric characteristics compared to the open ocean surface, in both the amplitude and phase domains of SAR-measured complex radar backscatter returns. In this study, new index factors are defined which have opposite signs in green macroalgae-covered areas, compared to the open water surface. These index factors enable unsupervised detection from SAR images, providing a high-resolution new tool for detection of green macroalgae blooms, which can potentially contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms related to outbreaks of green macroalgae blooms in coastal areas throughout the world ocean.     

Multi-frequency synthetic-aperture imaging with a lightweight ground penetrating radar system

The detection of buried objects, particularly hazardous waste containers and unexploded ordnance (UXO), has gained significant interest in the Unites States in the late 1990s. The desire to remediate the thousands of sites worldwide has become an increasing concern and the application of radar to this problem has received renewed attention. The US Department of Energy's Special Technologies Laboratory (STL), operated by Bechtel Nevada, has developed several frequency-modulated, continuous-wave (FM-CW) ground penetrating radar (GPR) units. To meet technical requirements for higher-resolution data, STL and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) is investigating advanced GPR hardware, signal processing, and synthetic-aperture imaging with the development of an innovative system. The goal is to design and fabricate a lightweight, battery-operated unit that does not require surface contact, can be operated by a novice user, and can achieve improved resolution. The latter is accomplished by using synthetic-aperture imaging, which forms the subsurface images by fully utilizing the data sequences collectively along a scan path. We also present the backward propagation algorithm as the basic structure of the multiple-frequency tomographic imaging technique, and the conventional fast Fourier transform (FFT) method which can be described as a degenerated case of the model where the computation procedure is approximated under the narrow-beam assumption.     

Oil spill detection with fully polarimetric UAVSAR data

In this study, two ocean oil spill detection approaches based on four scattering matrices measured by fully polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) are presented and compared. The first algorithm is based on the co-polar correlation coefficient, ρ, and the scattering matrix decomposition parameters, Cloud entropy (H), mean scattering angle (α) and anisotropy (A). While each of these parameters has oil spill signature in it, we find that combining these parameters into a new parameter, F, is a more effective way for oil slick detection. The second algorithm uses the total power of four polarimetric channels image (SPAN) to find the optimal representation of the oil spill signature. Otsu image segmentation method can then be applied to the F and SPAN images to extract the oil slick features. Using the L-band fully polarimetric Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle – synthetic aperture radar (UAVSAR) data acquired during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster event in the Gulf of Mexico, we are able to successfully extract the oil slick information in the contaminated ocean area. Our result shows that both algorithms perform well in identifying oil slicks in this case.     

Diurnal-period,wind-forced ocean variability on the inner shelf off Concepción,Chile

We characterize the response of diurnal-period ocean current variability to the sea breeze using measurements of current velocity taken off the mouth of the Itata River and wind stress collected at Hualpen Point (central Chile) in spring of 2007 and summer of 2006 and 2008. During these three periods, the winds are predominately towards the northeast, following the coastal topography, with the highest variability found in the near-diurnal and synoptic frequency bands. The sea breeze amplitude is intermittent in time and is associated with synoptic-scale variability on the order of three to 15 days, so that the diurnal-period winds (and currents) are enhanced when the alongshore wind (i.e. upwelling-favorable) is strong. The water current variability in the near-diurnal band is significant, explaining up to 40% (spring 2007) of the total current variance in the first 15 m depth.     

基于正则化方法的高频地波雷达海浪方向谱反演

提出了一种从高频地波雷达海面回波谱中提取海浪方向谱的新方法:基于高频电波海洋探测基本原理将线性化后的非线性积分方程离散为矩阵方程组,通过引入正则化数学模型将不适定方程转化为正规方程,然后采用奇异值分解法求解.对于正则化方法中正则化参数,采用L曲线法来确定.为了验证本文算法的有效性,分别在单部雷达和双部雷达探测下进行了不同噪声水平下的数值模拟,结果表明了该正则化反演方法的有效性.文中还给出了实测数据分析初步结果.该算法的工程性应用还需进一步研究.对于实际的地波雷达海浪反演具有良好的应用前景.     

Air–sea interactions during strong winter extratropical storms

A high-resolution, regional coupled atmosphere–ocean model is used to investigate strong air–sea interactions during a rapidly developing extratropical cyclone (ETC) off the east coast of the USA. In this two-way coupled system, surface momentum and heat fluxes derived from the Weather Research and Forecasting model and sea surface temperature (SST) from the Regional Ocean Modeling System are exchanged via the Model Coupling Toolkit. Comparisons are made between the modeled and observed wind velocity, sea level pressure, 10 m air temperature, and sea surface temperature time series, as well as a comparison between the model and one glider transect. Vertical profiles of modeled air temperature and winds in the marine atmospheric boundary layer and temperature variations in the upper ocean during a 3-day storm period are examined at various cross-shelf transects along the eastern seaboard. It is found that the air–sea interactions near the Gulf Stream are important for generating and sustaining the ETC. In particular, locally enhanced winds over a warm sea (relative to the land temperature) induce large surface heat fluxes which cool the upper ocean by up to 2 °C, mainly during the cold air outbreak period after the storm passage. Detailed heat budget analyses show the ocean-to-atmosphere heat flux dominates the upper ocean heat content variations. Results clearly show that dynamic air–sea interactions affecting momentum and buoyancy flux exchanges in ETCs need to be resolved accurately in a coupled atmosphere–ocean modeling framework.     

合成孔径雷达( SAR)及其在地质和地震研究中的应用

在遥感技术广泛应用的今天, 合成孔径雷达( SAR)因其具有全天时、全天候成像能力及对地物有一定穿透力等独特的特点, 已成为地学研究的一个重要手段。概述了合成孔径雷达技术的发展状况, 对合成孔径雷达成像机理及特征做了简要介绍, 同时对新兴起的合成孔径雷达干涉测量( IN SAR)技术也做了简单描述, 并就SAR在地质和地震研究中的应用进行了举例说明, 充分肯定了合成孔径雷达技术在地质和地震研究中的重要作用。     

Oblique wave scattering by undulating porous bottom in a two-layer fluid: Fourier transform approach

The problem involving scattering of oblique waves by small undulation on the porous ocean bed in a two-layer fluid is investigated within the framework of linearised theory of water waves where the upper layer is free to the atmosphere. In such a two-layer fluid, there exist waves with two different wave numbers (modes): wave with lower wave number propagates along the free surface whilst that with higher wave number propagates along the interface. When an oblique incident wave of a particular mode encounters the undulating bottom, it gets reflected and transmitted into waves of both modes so that some of the wave energy transferred from one mode to another mode. Perturbation analysis in conjunction with Fourier transform technique is used to derive the first-order corrections of velocity potentials, reflection and transmission coefficients at both modes due to oblique incident waves of both modes. One special type of undulating bottom topography is considered as an example to evaluate the related coefficients in detail. These coefficients are shown in graphical forms to demonstrate the transformation of water wave energy between the two modes. Comparisons between the present results with those in the literature are made for particular cases and the agreements are found to be satisfactory. In addition, energy identity, an important relation in the study of water wave theory, is derived with the help of the Green’s integral theorem.     

RCS analysis in the detection of a generic missile target with sea clutter background

The detection of a missile target in heavy sea clutter is a significantly challenging problem due to the clutter effects. In this paper, the radar cross sections (RCS) of a pre-assumed generic missile model is computed with multilevel fast multi-pole algorithm (MLFMA), while the RCS of ocean surface is computed by a more reduced form of the fractional Weierstrass scattering model proposed here. At last, the computed RCS of missile model is compared with that of sea surface, and then the comparisons of missile-to-ocean RCS ratios of different incident angles, incident frequencies, and polarization patterns are also presented. The discussion and comparisons of RCS of the missile and ocean surface can help us to plan and design a radar system in the application of detection of a missile target or other analogous weaker targets in the strong sea clutter background.