GULF STREAM DETECTION AND ESTIMATION WITH RADARSAT-2 ALONG-TRACK INTERFEROMETRY

This paper presents first results of open ocean surface current retrieval in the satellite line-of-sight (LOS) direction using RADARSAT-2 along-track interferometry (ATI) over the expected track of the Gulf Stream (GS). Results are compared to measurements derived from NASA's Ocean Surface Current Analyses Real-time (OSCAR) dataset, which provides global near-surface ocean current estimates. Results show close spatial correspondence, and a RMS difference of approximately 21 cm/s was observed between the two estimates over the region identified as GS. However, due to its significantly higher spatial resolution, measurements obtained from RADARSAT-2 MODEX ScanSAR showed small scale surface current features that were entirely missed in the OSCAR dataset. This increased the RMS difference over the entire scene to approximately 50 cm/s.