Observation of natural and artificial features on the sea surface from SAR satellite imagery with in-situ measurements

In this paper, several examples of synthetic aperture radar images of the sea surface from TerraSAR-X and RADARSAT-2 in the Straits of Florida are examined with corresponding in-situ data. The in-situ observations included vertical and horizontal fine thermo-haline structure, sonar transects, current velocity, directional wave characteristics, weather parameters, and Doppler weather radar data. The appearance of natural and artificial features in these images is discussed in relation to the environmental conditions during the overpass and the satellite sensor used for observation.