Airborne Scanning Lidar Measurement of Ocean Waves

摘要

A scanning lidar system provides high-resolution, two-dimensional measurements of ocean wave displacement. The fact that it is an airborne operation further enhances the speed of data acquisition. These properties allow rapid characterization of the ocean wave environment. In addition to active ranging, the scanning optics can obtain passive measurements of surface emissivity, yielding a digital image of surface brightness in real time. Processed into a binary image, these measurements can provide information on the average statistics and the spatial distribution of breaking waves. Technical specifications of the system and examples of application are presented.