COMBINING OPTICAL AND RADAR SATELLITE IMAGE DATA FOR SURVEILLANCE OF COASTAL WATERS

摘要

In this paper, we present preliminary results of a study concerning the joint application of optical and radar satellite image data for the mapping / monitoring of coastal waters. The image data studied were acquired during the summer of 1999 by the RADARSAT SAR system and the NOAA AVHRR scanner. Our area of interest is located at Canada's West Coast and includes the waters that surround the Queen Charlottes and Vancouver Island. The findings illustrate the limitations that clouds and wind speed create for the applicability of optical and radar data, respectively. The importance of slicks as tracers of coastal features in SAR images is demonstrated and agreement in the patterns present in thermal AVHRR and SAR data is observed.