Until recently, intensity modulations in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) altimetry waveform tails have been considered a nuisance for geophysical-parameter retrieval. These modulations are actually predictable and might be exploited using a spectral analysis of the waveform tails. After Altiparmaki et al. (2022), a more elaborated analysis is performed to improve the interpretation of these SAR altimeter spectra. A fast numerical model is developed to explain the modulation mechanisms in focused SAR altimetry waveform tails. Using numerical solutions, standard analytical closed-form solutions, are demonstrated to be invalid to retrieve ocean-wave-spectra retrievals from nadir altimeters. Although not valid, a closed-form derivation provides intuitive insights about the information contained in an SAR altimetry cross-spectrum. Under moderate environmental conditions (significant wave heights (SWHs) of ∼2 m), a closed-form solution might still be useful to infer swell-wave spectra from swath-altimetry SAR spectra at incident angles of ∼4°. Comparable to side-looking SAR ocean processing, the cross-spectral analysis for nadir signals reduces noise and might remove the 180° ambiguity of the wave direction. Since the synthetic aperture length of nadir altimeters is larger than sidelooking imaging SARs (e.g., Sentinel-1, RadarSat, Gaofen-3), sublook processing can be performed to compute multiple cross-spectra for the same scene. With a slightly changing observation geometry, the cross-spectra reveal slightly different parts of the ocean-wave spectrum. The resulting stack of cross-spectra can thus be used to improve the retrieval of ocean-wave parameters. Retrieved ocean-wave parameters shall then enhance the sampling of the global wave field, but also serve to advance more consistent sea-state-bias corrections.

Earth Explorer 10 mission Harmony will consist of two satellites that fly in formation with Sentinel-1. It will operate as a multistatic radar in which Sentinel-1 transmits signals and all three satellites receive signals from different lines-of-sight. To prepare for Harmony and other possible future bistatic missions, transforms are derived to map the ocean-wave spectrum into bistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR) spectra. The SAR mapping follows the standard derivation using the multidimensional characteristic function, but with adjustments for the modulation transfer functions compared to the monostatic case. This article focuses on the SAR modulations caused by velocity bunching as it is the dominant distortion mechanism. We argue that a multistatic system, such as Harmony, leads to an inversion that constrains the real aperture radar (RAR) response on a scene-by-scene basis. A benefit of having additional receivers for wave spectra estimation is that the three lines-of-sight enable to capture a larger fraction of the wave spectrum. Improvements are especially expected in high wind speed conditions such as tropical cyclones, where large energetic surface motions strongly deteriorate the (azimuth) resolution of the SAR data. Enhanced directional wave spectral characteristics will further help to improve the interpretation of the new bistatic Harmony high-resolution scatter and Doppler combined directional measurements.

Two air-sea interaction quantification methods are employed on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) scenes containing atmospheric-turbulence signatures. Quantification performance is assessed on Obukhov length L, an atmospheric surface-layer stability metric. The first method correlates spectral energy at specific turbulence-spectrum wavelengths directly to L. Improved results are obtained from the second method, which relies on a machine-learning algorithm trained on a wider array of SAR-derived parameters. When applied on scenes containing convective signatures, the second method is able to predict approximately 80% of observed variance with respect to validation. Estimated wind speed provides the bulk of predictive power while parameters related to the kilometer-scale distribution of spectral energy contribute to a significant reduction in prediction errors, enabling the methodology to be applied on a scene-by-scene basis. Differences between these physically based estimates and parameterized numerical models may guide the latter's improvement.

Observations of wind and ocean surface velocity vectors by along-track interferometry (ATI) with the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) are not only important for direct applications but also to increase understandings of ocean upper layer mixing, air-ocean interactions, and mapping submesoscale (1-10 km) structures. An experimental bidirectional (BiDi) ATI acquisition mode of TanDEM-X observes with two squinted beams separated by an angle of approximately 13.2° in azimuth on the ground. The baseline is very short, and the along-track interferometric phase (ATI phase) of the ocean surface in the line-of-sight direction of the beams can be interpreted as a total Doppler velocity. The 2-D Doppler velocity field will thus include wind-wave detected motions. In this article, Doppler velocity fields acquired from this experimental acquisition mode are presented. The sequential retrieval of wind vector and total surface current vectors (TSCV) is demonstrated on the BiDi TanDEM-X data. The retrieval algorithm builds on existing geophysical model functions (GMFs) of normalized radar cross section (NRCS) and Doppler velocity. XMOD2 and a GMF based on the Elfouhaily ocean wave spectrum coupled with a Kirchhoff approximation (EOWS&KA) are used. The retrieved wind fields are generally consistent with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA-5. While the ATI phase errors are small, the retrieved TSCV field looks promising. Acquisitions were located at sea over the tip of the Novaya Zemlya in Russia and over an area near Tromso, Norway.

This paper presents, in the context of the Harmony Earth Explorer 10 mission candidate, approaches to retrieve high resolution sea surface wind vectors and ocean surface velocity fields, with the focus on studying local deformations of these fields (convergence, divergence, vorticity) rather than mean flows.

The Sea surface KInematics Multiscale monitoring (SKIM) satellite mission is designed to explore ocean surface current and waves. This includes tropical currents, notably the unknown patterns of divergence and their impact on the ocean heat budget near the Equator, monitoring of the emerging Arctic up to 82.5$(\circ)$N. SKIM will also make unprecedented direct measurements of strong currents, from boundary currents to the Antarctic circumpolar current, and their interaction with ocean waves with expected impacts on air-sea fluxes and extreme waves. For the first time, SKIM will directly measure the ocean surface current vector from space. The main instrument on SKIM is a Ka-band conically scanning, multi-beam Doppler radar altimeter/wave scatterometer that includes a state-of-the-art nadir beam comparable to the Poseidon-4 instrument on Sentinel 6. The well proven Doppler pulse-pair technique will give a surface drift velocity representative of the top two meters of the ocean, after subtracting a large wave-induced contribution. Horizontal velocity components will be obtained with an accuracy better than 7 cm/s for horizontal wavelengths larger than 80~km and time resolutions larger than 15 days, with a mean revisit time of 4 days for of 99\% of the global oceans. This will provide unique and innovative measurements that will further our understanding of the transports in the upper ocean layer, permanently distributing heat, carbon, plankton, and plastics. SKIM will also benefit from co-located measurements of water vapor, rain rate, sea ice concentration, and wind vectors provided by the European operational satellite MetOp-SG(B), allowing many joint analyses. SKIM is one of the two candidate satellite missions under development for ESA Earth Explorer 9. The other candidate is the Far infrared Radiation Understanding and Monitoring (FORUM). The final selection will be announced by September 2019, for a launch in the coming

This paper provides a compact overview of Harmony, an Earth Explorer 10 mission candidate dedicated to the observation of dynamic deformations of ice, solid earth and ocean surfaces. Harmony consists of two receive-only small Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites using Sentinel-1D as illuminator, which will alternate close formation phases, dedicated to single-pass cross-track interferometry, with StereoSAR phases dedicated to the study of ocean surface motion and 3-D land surface deformations.

High-resolution satellite images of ocean color and sea surface temperature reveal an abundance of ocean fronts, vortices and filaments at scales below 10 km but measurements of ocean surface dynamics at these scales are rare. There is increasing recognition of the role played by small scale ocean processes in ocean-atmosphere coupling, upper-ocean mixing and ocean vertical transports, with advanced numerical models and in situ observations highlighting fundamental changes in dynamics when scales reach 1 km. Numerous scientific publications highlight the global impact of small oceanic scales on marine ecosystems, operational forecasts and long-term climate projections through strong ageostrophic circulations, large vertical ocean velocities and mixed layer re-stratification. Small-scale processes particularly dominate in coastal, shelf and polar seas where they mediate important exchanges between land, ocean, atmosphere and the cryosphere e.g. freshwater, pollutants. As numerical models continue to evolve towards finer spatial resolution and increasingly complex coupled atmosphere-wave-ice-ocean systems, modern observing capability lags behind, unable to deliver the high-resolution synoptic measurements of total currents, wind vectors and waves needed to advance understanding, develop better parameterizations and improve model validations, forecasts and projections. SEASTAR is a satellite mission concept that proposes to directly address this critical observational gap with synoptic two-dimensional imaging of total ocean surface current vectors and wind vectors at 1 km resolution and coincident directional wave spectra. Based on major recent advances in squinted along-track Synthetic Aperture Radar interferometry, SEASTAR is an innovative, mature concept with unique demonstrated capabilities, seeking to proceed towards spaceborne implementation within Europe and beyond.