Complex experiments were performed in the north-eastern part of the Black Sea and in the south-eastern part of the White Sea to study variability of the current fields and other characteristics of the sea, wind waves, and parameters of the near-surface atmospheric layer. Measurements were carried out from the onboard of the scientific research vessels by optical, radar and acoustic sensors. The heterogeneity of bottom topography in Black Sea had quasi-one-dimensional character. The case of the two-dimensionally heterogeneous relief of the bottom was investigated in the White Sea. The peculiarity of these experiments was simultaneous measurements from onboard of vessel synchronously with acquisitions of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of the Envisat and TerraSAR-X satellites. We have detected for the case of the quasi-one-dimensionally heterogeneous current a difference between the sea surface roughness above the shelf zone and the roughness at the deep bottom. We found that the inhomogeneities of the bottom topography can manifest as a change not only in the amplitude of different characteristics of surface wave and atmospheric near-water layer, but also in their frequency spectrum. In White Sea the special features of the flow of the powerful tidal current (up to 1 m/s) around the secluded underwater elevation and the spatial structure of surface anomalies in the field of these two-dimensional-heterogeneous currents are analyzed. The numerical simulation of the wind wave transformation in the field of two-dimensional- heterogeneous flows is carried out. The qualitative agreement of the calculation results with the experimental data is shown.

Date Published: 19 October 2012
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 8532, Remote Sensing of the Ocean, Sea Ice, Coastal Waters, and Large Water Regions 2012, 85320N (19 October 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.974774

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8532:
Remote Sensing of the Ocean, Sea Ice, Coastal Waters, and Large Water Regions 2012
Charles R. Bostater Jr.; Stelios P. Mertikas; Xavier Neyt; Caroline Nichol; Dave Cowley; Jean-Paul Bruyant, Editor(s)