Assessment of Satellite and Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar for U.S. Coast Guard Search and Rescue Planning

The USCG R&D Center performed a feasibility study of the use of satellite and airborne synthetic aperture radar data to support ocean search and rescue planning. Three field experiments were performed to assess the capability of synthetic aperture radar images of surface features associated with ocean currents to provide surface current estimates for search planners. Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometry (AVHRR) and Radarsat synthetic aperture radar images from Georges Bank were obtained. Three methods to estimate surface currents from synthetic aperture radar imagery were investigated. Attempts were made to correlate AVHRR thermal features with synthetic aperture radar signatures. A second field experiment was performed off the coast of Delaware, to evaluate the potential of interferograms generated from complex Radarsat synthetic aperture radar data using a technique analogous to dual antenna interferometry. A third experiment was performed in Long Island Sound. Sea surface current estimates derived from airborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar (INSAR) data were compared with Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler measurements and the trajectories of surface drifters. Prepared in collaboration with Connecticut Univ., Avery Point and ERIM Internatinal, Inc., Ann Arbor, MI under contract number DTCG39-94-D-E56616.