Remote sensing of sea surface wind and wave from spaceborne synthetic aperture radar

Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can observe the ocean surface with high spatial resolution and wide swath under all-weather conditions, day and night. Thus, it is a crucial microwave sensor for obtaining information on sea surface wind and wave fields. This paper reviews various geophysical model functions for wind and wave retrieval and SAR applications in studies of marine atmospheric boundary layer phenomena, offshore wind energy resource development, typhoon monitoring/forecast. The use of traditional SAR and new types of interferometric and polarized SAR data in ocean research are discussed. With the advance of radar satellite technology, the constellation of SAR satellites has become a new trend in the global ocean observations. Many SAR research algorithms have become mature enough to be implemented operationally to provide sea surface wind and wave fields to the scientific communities for ocean dynamic environment monitoring. © 2020 Institute of Electronics Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.