Indian Ocean Crossing Swells: New Insights from “Fireworks” Perspective Using Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) in wave mode is a powerful sensor for monitoring the swells propagating across ocean basins. Here, we investigate crossing swells in the Indian Ocean using 10-years Envisat SAR wave mode archive spanning from December 2003 to April 2012. Taking the benefit of the unique “fireworks” analysis on SAR observations, we reconstruct the origins and propagating routes that are associated with crossing swell pools in the Indian Ocean. Besides, three different crossing swell mechanisms are discriminated from space by the comparative analysis between results from “fireworks” and original SAR data: (1) in the mid-ocean basin of the Indian Ocean, two remote southern swells form the crossing swell; (2) wave-current interaction; and, (3) co-existence of remote Southern swell and shamal swell contribute to the crossing swells in the Agulhas Current region and the Arabian Sea.