Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for Ocean: A Review

• Published in: IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
• Main Authors: Reza Mohammadi Asiyabi, Arsalan Ghorbanian, Shaahin Nazarpour Tameh, Meisam Amani, Shuanggen Jin, Ali Mohammadzadeh
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2023
• Subjects: Ocean currents; ocean wave; ocean wind; oil spill; remote sensing; sea ice; Ocean engineering; TC1501-1800; Geophysics. Cosmic physics; QC801-809; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2023.3310363; https://doaj.org/article/7e8498f398a84854a20e951952710729

Oceans cover approximately 71% of the Earth's surface and provide numerous services to the environment and humans. Precise, real-time, and large-scale monitoring of the oceanographic parameters is essential for ocean conservation and understanding the interactions between oceans and the atmosphere. In this regard, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems, with unique capabilities (e.g., day-night and almost all-weather data acquisition), provide valuable datasets for ocean studies. Many studies have exploited the applications of SAR imagery for oceans and have proposed numerous methods to study oceanographic parameters. In this study, a brief introduction to SAR and the interaction between microwave signals and the ocean surface are initially provided. Then, the important spaceborne and airborne SAR systems for oceanographic applications are summarized. Subsequently, 12 different applications of SAR systems in the ocean are comprehensively discussed, and the advantages and disadvantages of SAR systems for ocean studies are extensively explored. Finally, the research trend on SAR applications in the ocean is provided by analyzing all the relevant papers published between 1973 and the end of December 2022, and the existing challenges are discussed for future studies.