02/2022 – 02/2024

SARWAVE

The main objective of the ESA-funded project SARWAVE is to develop and validate a set of methods in order to retrieve met-ocean parameters such as sea state and ocean wave spectra from Sentinel-1 IW mode data. Fusion with altimeter and optical sensors is also required to generate improved data products and for synergetic studies. The project is led by IsardSAT. DLR is responsible for processing a large Sentinel-1 L1 product dataset (approx. 12.000 scenes in 2020) with the DLR NRT Sea State Processor. The dataset consists of so-called “exceptional cases“, with e.g. extreme or rare weather conditions, where the existing operational ESA algorithms generally fail. 

SARWAVE
Example for significant wave height estimated from Sentinel-1 IW mode data acquired during a storm in North Atlantic. The Sentinel-1 scene consists of sequences of nine individual images covering 1600 km x 200 km. Significant wave height reaches up to 14 m in the area between Island and Ireland.
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