Two-dimensional structure functions for characterizing convective rolls in the marine atmospheric boundary layer from Sentinel-1 SAR images

We study the shape of convective rolls in the Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer from Synthetic Aperture Radar images of the ocean. We propose a multiscale analysis with structure functions which allow an easy generalization to analyse high-order statistics and so to finely describe the shape of the rolls. The two main results are 1) second-order structure function characterizes the wavelength and direction of rolls just like correlation or power spectrum do, 2) high-order statistics can be studied with skewness and flatness which characterize the asymmetry and intermittency of rolls, respectively. This is the first time that the asymmetry and intermittency of rolls are shown from radar images of the ocean surface.