Radar signatures of the ocean surface and global wind fields measured by the ERS-1 scatterometer

A C-band scatterometer is presently flying aboard the First European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1) which measures the normalized radar cross section (NRCS) of the ocean surface globally with a resolution of 50 km by 50 km. A data set of one year of these NRCS measurements is used to investigate seasonal variations of the radar signatures of the global wind field and of the upwelling region in the Gulf of Guinea. The relative low backscattered radar power in this upwelling region can be explained by the stable air-sea interface and the damping of short gravity-capillary waves due to natural sea surface slicks present in regions of high biological productivity.<
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