Estimation of wind, wave and ice parameters at the ice boundary by using active microwave systems of the ERS satellites

Synthetic aperture radar images are used to investigate metereological and sea state conditions in the marginal ice zone. Using the SCAT CMOD4 algorithm on recalibrated SAR images wind speed at the ice boundary is derived and compared to measurements using the azimuthal cross correlation algorithm. The scattering of ocean waves at the ice boundary is studied using two dimensional image spectra. In additon the phase information of the single look complex SAR images is used to generate different looks separated by about half a second. These can e.g. be used to determine the phase speed of ocean waves. This is compared to the theoretical phase speed from the dispersion relationship. As this relationship depends on topography, currents and ice parameters, additional information on these parameters can be obtained. A first digital elevation model of the sea surface derived from X-SAR data taken during a single pass interferometric airborne campaign in February 1997 is presented.