FMCW-SAR development for internal wave imaging

The observation of internal waves in SAR images is not new but the imaging mechanisms involved are not fully understood. The Mesoscale Ocean Radar Signature Experiments (MORSE) project aims to provide models of these processes, both by theoretical and experimental means. As part of this work, a laboratory-based advanced ultra-high-resolution SAR is being developed to obtain images of the water surface in scaled experiments. The radar, which has a polarimetric capability, operates at a frequency of 94 GHz and uses the FMCW technique, with a range resolution of 5 cm and an azimuth resolution of 1 cm for an imaged area of 5/spl times/4 m/sup 2/. This SAR is to be used in a set of experiments in LEGI, France, first in a flume, and then in a wave tank in which scaled versions of particular internal wave phenomena can be set-up under laboratory conditions. This paper will particularly focus on the development of this radar.