The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) onboard the European Satellite ERS-2 is operated in wave mode over the global oceans whenever no image mode data acquisition is requested. In the present paper new SAR algorithms to derive sea state at German Aerospace Center (DLR) are shortly introduced and used to determine SAR derived ocean parameters from wave mode data. Global Significant wave height statistics on a 3deg by 3deg grid derived by an empirical method (CWAVE) is presented in this paper for sea state analysis. A severe North Pacific storm that produced significant wave height above 10 m along the northern great circle shipping route is presented in the paper. The sea state generated is analyzed in more detail using the empirical method to derive significant wave height and compared to the ocean wave model WAM.
['Xiao-Ming Li', 'Thomas Koenig', 'Susanne Lehne', 'Johannes Schulz-Stellenfleth']
Measurement of extreme wave height by ERS-2 SAR and numerical wave model (WAM)