Wave height estimation from SAR imagery

This paper presents a method developed for estimating wave height from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery with-out prior assumption of noise distribution. It is based on two-dimensional ocean wave spectra retrieved from fully calibrated SAR images. Wen’s spectrum was used as first-guess wave spectrum in the retrieval process. Comparison of the estimated wave height obtained by this method from two ERS-1 SAR subimages dated 23 July 1994 with in-situ measurements showed that the method works well.