Proceedings of the KSRS Conference (대한원격탐사학회:학술대회논문집)

  • Volume 1
  • /
  • Pages.39-42
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  • 2006
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  • 1226-9743(pISSN)
Korean Society of Remote Sensing (대한원격탐사학회)
권호 표지

MANIFESTATIONS OF THE INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI OF 2004 IN SATELLITE NADIR-VIEWING RADAR BACKSCATTER VARIATIONS

  • Troitskaya, Yuliya I. (Institute of Applied Physics Russian Academy of Sciences) ;
  • Ermakov, Stanislav A. (Institute of Applied Physics Russian Academy of Sciences)
  • Published : 2006.11.02
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Abstract

The paper reports on the first experimental evidence for space-observed manifestation of the open ocean tsunami in the microwave radar backscatter (in C- and Ku-bands). Significant variations of the radar cross section synchronous with the sea level anomaly were found in the geophysical data record of the altimetry satellite Jason-1 for the track which crossed the head wave of the catastrophic tsunami of 26 December 2004. The simultaneous analysis of the available complementary data provided by the satellite three-channel radiometer enabled us to exclude meteorological factors as possible causes of the observed signal modulation. A possible physical mechanism of modulation of short wind waves due to transformation of the thin boundary layer in the air by a tsunami wave is discussed. The results open new possibilities of monitoring tsunamis from space..

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