Validation of SAR ocean data products and verification of process models used for SAR interpretation

Robinson, I.S. and Ufermann, S. (2004) Validation of SAR ocean data products and verification of process models used for SAR interpretation. Lacoste, H. (ed.) In Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Coastal and Marine Applications of SAR, Svalbard, Norway, 8-12 September 2003. European Space Agency. pp. 211-218 .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

This paper examines the issue of the quality analysis of ocean data products derived from SAR. It is based on work in the EU MARSAIS Project. The principles of quality assessment are addressed, distinguishing between the tasks of calibration, process verification and validation. These principles are applied to four classes of SAR ocean data product; wind, waves, features measured by their surface current signatures, and oil slick monitoring. Wind and wave products are shown to be quite well validated, but the retrieval of information about current-based features or about oil slicks are poorly validated, even though the process models used have been verified. The reason is the scarcity, or absence, of any independent measurements of the ocean variables retrieved from SAR. This shortcoming must be addressed if SAR is to be widely accepted as a tool for measuring ocean phenomena.

This record has no associated files available for download.