Ocean Wave Parameters Retrieval from TerraSAR-X Images Validated against Buoy Measurements and Model Results

An ocean surface wave retrieval algorithm, Parameterized First-guess Spectrum Method (PFSM), which was initially developed for C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), is modified to extract wave parameters from X-band TerraSAR-X (TS-X) images. Wave parameters, including significant wave height (SWH) and mean wave period (MWP) were extracted from nine TS-X HH-polarization images and were compared to in situ buoy measurements. The range of these wave retrievals is from 1 to 5 m of SWH and from 2 to 10 s of MWP. The retrieval accuracy could reach 80%. After that, a total of 16 collected TS-X HH-polarization images were used to invert wave parameters and then the retrieval results were compared to the operational WAVEWATCH-III wave model results. The SAR and in situ buoy wave comparison shows a 0.26 m Root-Mean-Square Error (RMSE) of SWH and a 19.8% of Scatter Index (SI). The SAR and WAVEWATCH-III model comparison yields slightly worse results with an RMSE of 0.43 m of SWH and a 32.8% of SI. For MWP, the SAR and buoy comparison shows the RMSE is 0.45 s with an SI of 26%, which is better than the results from the SAR and WAVEWATCH-III model comparison. Our results show that the PFSM algorithm is suitable to estimate wave parameters from X-band TS-X data. OPEN ACCESS Remote Sens. 2015, 7 12816