Phase Resolved Wave Prediction From Synthetic Radar Images

A method is presented for the inversion of images of the sea surface taken by nautical radar into wave elevation that is specifically suitable for the prediction of the wave elevation outside the observation domain covered by the radar. By means of a beam-wise analysis of the image obtained by a scanning radar, the image information is translated into wave elevation. Subsequently a 2D FFT is applied in order to obtain the directional wave components required for a linear propagation of the wave field. Assuming knowledge of the significant wave height, a method to obtain the correct scaling of the wave prediction is proposed. The proposed method is verified using synthetic radar images which are modelled by applying shadowing and tilt effect to synthesised short crested linear waves.