Sea state from high-resolution satellite-borne SAR imagery

The Sea Sate Processor (SSP) was developed for fully automatic processing of high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from TerraSAR-X (TS-X) satellites and implemented into the processing chain for Near Real Time (NRT) services in the DLR ground station »Neustrelitz«. The NRT chain was organised and tested to provide the processed data to the German Meteorological Service (DWD) in order to validate the new coastal forecast model CWAM (Coastal WAve Model) in the German Bight of the North Sea with 900 metre horizontal resolution. The NRT test-runs, wherein the processed TS-X data were transferred to DWD and then incorporated into forecast products reach the best performance about 10 minutes for delivery of processed TS-X data to DWD server after scene acquisition.

Remote sensing | Oceanography | Coastal processes | Sea state | NRT | Forecast