2017 journal article

Sea Fetch Observed by Synthetic Aperture Radar

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING, 55(1), 272–279.

co-author countries: China πŸ‡¨πŸ‡³ United States of America πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ
author keywords: Model; synthetic aperture radar (SAR); wind
Source: Web Of Science
Added: August 6, 2018

Two satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observations of the fetch in the Bohai Sea of China are presented. The sea surface winds derived from SAR data indicated a high wind of 15-16 m/s that occurred in the fetch zone. The winds are shown to have immediate direct mechanical forcing impacts on the significant wave heights (Hs) of ocean surface gravity waves. Buoy measurements and numerical wave modeling results show that the Hs increased to a maximum of 3.5 m in the semienclosed sea, 3 h after the passage of the fetch winds, and the high Hs in the sea was sustained for a total of 6 h. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model implemented in our modeling simulation captured the wind field responsible for the evolution of the fetch event. The model-simulated surface horizontal winds agree with the SAR-derived winds. In addition, the vertical wind distribution reveals that the fetch wind field reached the 800 hPa level, and the event lasted less than one day. This study demonstrates the synergy of using SAR imagery and the WRF model as effective tools to investigate the lateral and vertical structures of coastal wind.