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A theory of the imaging mechanism of

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Article in Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres · January 1984

DOI: 10.1029/JC089iC06p10529

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 JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 89, NO. C6, PAGES 10,529-10,546,NOVEMBER 20, 1984

A Theoryof the ImagingMechanismof UnderwaterBottomTopography

by Real and SyntheticAperture Radar
WERNER ALPERS

lnstitutfiir Meereskunde,UniversitdtHamburg,and Max-Planck-lnstitutfiir Meteorolo•lie

Hamburg,FederalRepublicof Germany

INGO HENNINGS

Institutfiir Meereskunde,UniversitdtHamburg,Federal Republicof Germany

A simpletheoreticalmodel of the imagingmechanismof underwaterbottom topographyin tidal

channelsby real and by syntheticaperture radar (SAR) is presented.The imaging is attributed to surface
effectsinduced by current variations over bottom topography. The current modulates the short-scale
surfaceroughness,which in turn gives rise to changesin radar reflectivity.The bottom topography-
current interactionis describedby the continuity equation,and the current-short surfacewave interac-
tion is describedby weak hydrodynamicinteraction theory in the relaxation time approximation.This
theorycontainsonly one free parameter,whichis the relaxationtime. It is shownthat in the caseof tidal
flow overlarge-scale
bottomtopographic
features,e.g.,oversandbanks,
the radarcross-section
modula-
tion is proportionalto the product of the relaxationtime and the gradientof the surfacecurrentvelocity,
which is proportionalto the slopeof the water depth divided by the squareof the depth. To first order,
tiffs modulationis independentof wind direction.In the caseof SAR imaging,in addition to the above
mentionedhydrodynamicmodulation,phasemodulationor velocitybunchingalso contributesto the
imaging.However,in general,the phasemodulationis smallin comparisonto the hydrodynamicmodu-
lation. The theory is confrontedwith experimentaldata which show that to first order our theory is
capableof explainingbasicfeaturesof the radar imagingmechanism
of underwaterbottomtopography
in tidalchannels.
I n orderto explainthelargeobserved
modulation
of radarreflectivity
wearecompelled
to assumea large relaxationtime, which for SeasatSAR Bragg waves(wavelength34 cm) is of the order
of 30-40 s, correspondingto 60-80 wave periods.

1. INTRODUCTION explore the radar imaging mechanismof bottom topography

OneofthegreatsurprisesoftheAmerican Seasat
satellite moresystematically
byperforming
a number
ofsimultaneous
mission
in 1978[Born
etal.,1979]wasthatunderwater
topo- radarandin situmeasurements
[Valenzuela,
1983;Gordon
et
graphic
features
downtoa depthoftensofmetersbelowthe• al.,1983].
oceansurfacecanbe detected
by synthetic
aperture
radar Several theoretical
ideas
concerning
theimaging
mechanism
(SAR) [Shuchmanand Kasischke, 1979; Fu and Holt, 1982; have beenput forward [McLeish et al., 1981; Gordonet al.,
Lodge, 1983a, b; Kenyon, 1983; Lyzenga et al., 1983]. This is 1983; Valenzuela,1983; Valenzuelaet al., 1983; Lyzengaet al.,
surprisingbecausethe electromagneticwaves emitted by the 1983),but at presentno really satisfactorytheory has evolved.
radar penetrateinto seawateronly to a depth that is smallin In this paper we present a simple imaging model which is
comparisonto the radar wavelength;•o.The SeasatSAR has a capableof explainingbasicfeaturesobservedin radar imagery
wavelengthof 23.5 cm (L band), and the penetrationdepth of of subsurfacebottom topography.This model usesthe conti-
these electromagneticwaves in seawater is of the order of ! nuity equation for flow normal to the subsurfacebarrier to
cm. Consequently, seafloor topography (or bathymetry) describethe bathymetry-currentinteractionand usesthe weak
cannot be imaged directly by SAR. The imaging relies on hydrodynamicinteraction theory in the relaxation time ap-
some kind of surfaceeffectsrelated to seafloor topography proximation [Keller and Wright, 1975; Alpers and Hassel-
whichgeneratethe radar signatures. mann,1978] to describethe current-waveinteraction.The rele-
Since 1978, de Loor and co-workers in the Netherlands vant equation is the radiation balance equation. The crucial
have noted that underwaterbottom topographyis visible on point of our theory is that the approximation previouslyap-
X band (20 = 3 cm) real aperture radar (RAR) imagery taken plied to the radiation balance equation when describingthe
over tidal flats in the North Sea [de Loor, 1976, 1978; de Loor modulationof short by long surfacewavesis not valid in this
and Brunsveldvan Hulten, 1978; de Loor, 1981]. Furthermore, case.Another approximation has to be used.This is discussed
in detail in section 2.2.
in 1979 the Atlantic Oceanographicand Meteorological La-
boratories
of the NationalOceanicandAtmospheric
Adminis- We do not pretend that our theoreticalmodel is capable of
tration, Miami, showed that seafloor bed forms are also de- explaining all aspectsof the imaging quantitatively. The de-
tectable by Ka band (20 = 0.86 cm) real aperture radar scriptionof the bottom topography-currentinteraction by a
[McLeish et al., 1981]. Recently,the Naval ResearchLabora- continuity equationfor the normal flow component,which we
tory, Washington,D.C., carried out a pilot experimentin the will refer to as the one-dimensionalcontinuity equation (see
shoals near Nantucket Island off the Massachusetts coast to section2.1),is in somecasescertainlyan oversimplification.In
addition, sometimesstrongly nonlinear processes,including
Copyright 1984by the AmericanGeophysicalUnion. turbulence,may contribute to the current-surfacewave inter-
Paper number 4C0812. action. Nevertheless, we argue that the proposed (one-
0148-0227/84/004C-0812505.00 parameter)weak hydrodynamicinteractiontheory for describ-
10,529
10,530 ALPERSAND HENNINGS: IMAGING MECHANISMSOF BOTTOMTOPOGRAPHY

ing the radar reflectivity modulation is a viable first-order ing of bathymetry is not confined to low wind speeds,as is
theory, which could be the starting point of a future, more often stated.Therefore the observedstrongcross-sectionmod-
complete(multiparameter)theory. ulation
cannot
beattributed
to a threshold
effect
forripple
For real aperture radar the imaging mechanismis deter- wave generationby the wind.
mined only by cross-sectionmodulation. However, for syn- 5. Radar imagingof large-scalesubsurfacefeaturesseems
thetic apertureradar, phasemodulation,i.e., velocity bunch- to depend only weakly on wind direction. This implies that
ing, also contributesto the imagingprocess[seeLarsonet al., blockingof Braggwavesin an adversecurrentcannotbe the
1976; Alpers and Rufenach,1979; Alpers et al., 1981; Alpers, dominant imagingmechanism,becausethis effectstronglyde-
1983]. This contribution to the SAR imaging mechanismis pends on the angle between wind and current direction
briefly reviewedin section2.3. [Gordon
et al.,1983;Lyzenga
et al.,1983].B]oc.
king.0ccurs
In section3 we confront our theory with existingexperi- onlyunderveryspecialconditions,
and thusradarimagingof
mental data, includingvisualobservationsdocumentedin sea bottom topography should exhibit a resonant-typebehavior.
charts,X band RAR imageryof asymmetricsandwavesin the However,the data we have analyzedseemnot to supportthis
North Sea off the Dutch coast,and L band SeasatSAR imag- hypothesis.
ery of sandbanksin the Southern Bight of the North Sea 6. In general,L and X band radar signaturesof sandbanks
(northeasternapproachto the English Channel).The bathy- and sand waves have a double sign. This means that on the
metry information is extracted from depth charts, and the radar image, one side of the subsurfacefeaturesis associated
current velocityfrom a tidal streamatlas. with increased,and the other sidewith reducedgray level(see,
Finally, section4 containsa summaryand discussionof the for example,Figures5a and 6a). Often the positiveand nega-
proposedimaging theory. tive excursionsfrom local averagegray level are almost sym-
metric. This implies that turbulent interaction of the current
2. THEORY OF THE IMAGING MECHANISM
with the ripple wavescannot be significant,becausethis pro-
A theory of the radar imaging mechanismof underwater cesswould always lead to an attenuation of the short waves
bottom topography(bathymetry)has to beginwith the follow- and thus a reduction of the spectralenergy density of the
ing facts. Bragg waves,but never to an enhancement.
1. Underwater bottom topography is imaged by real and 7. The radar signatureof bathymetryrespondsvery rap-
syntheticaperture radar. This implies that imaging of bathy- idly to changingtidal flow conditions[de Loot, 1978;McLeish
roetry by SAR cannot be causedexclusivelyby phaseor veloc- et al., 1981]. For example,in the SouthernBight of the North
ity bunchingmodulation.Thereforeamplitudeor cross-section Sea no bathymetricallyinducedradar signaturesare observed
modulationmust be an important factor in radar imagingof at the turning of the tide, i.e., at slackwater [Lodge, 1983b].
bathymetry. This implies that the vorticity in the residualcurrent field
2. Microwavesemitted by the radar penetrateinto seawa- generatedby tidal flow over bottom topography [Zimmer-
ter only to a depth which is small in comparisonto the elec- mann,1978; Kornenand Rieprna,1981; Robinson,1981] cannot
tromagnetic wavelength. Consequently,underwater bottom contribute significantlyto the imaging mechanism(G. J.
topography can only be sensedindirectly via surfaceeffects. Komen, personalcommunication,1983).By definition,the re-
Sincethe radars co,3sidered here operate at incidenceangles sidualcurrentis both stationaryand largescale.
between20ø and 70ø, the radar reflectivityof the seasurfaceis Theoretical estimates and measurements of the residual vor-
dominated by Bragg scattering (see, for example, Wright ticity in the SouthernBight of the North Sea yield valuesof
[1968, 1978], Valenzuela[1978], and Alperset al. [1981]). For the orderof 10-7 to 10-6 S-• [Komenand Rieprna,1981],
Braggscattering,the radar backscattering crosssectionis pro- whereasthe velocitygradientsassociatedwith the mean tidal
portional to the spectralenergydensity of the Bragg waves, flow over bathymetryare typicallyof the order of 10-4 to
whichhavea wavelengthof 20/2 sin {D,where20 is the radar 10-3 S-x. Thusin the SouthernBightof the North Seathe
wavelengthand {D the incidenceangle. Consequently,cross- modulation causedby residualvorticity should be at least 2
sectionmodulationresultsfrom modulationof the Braggscat- ordersof magnitudesmallerthan the modulationcausedby
tering waves. the mean tidal flow (seeequation(34)). However,the situation
3. Radar imaging of bathymetry is only observedwhen may be different in the Nantucket Shoals(G. R. Valenzuela,
strong (tidal) currentsare present.Therefore one is led to the personalcommunication,1984).
hypothesisthat underwaterbottom topographymodifiesthe
current field at the surface and that the radar senses these 2.1. Current-Bottom TopographyInteraction
current variations. (Note that wind-generated currents are The interaction of a three-dimensiona/time-variable current
usually confinedto the upper layers of the ocean and there-fieldwith a three-dimensional underwaterbottomtopography
fore, in general,do not interactwith bottom topography.)In can sometimesbe a very complex processwhich does not
the caseof RAR imaging,the currentfield is sensedindirectlyallow a simple mathematical description [Loder, 1980].
via its effecton the short-scalesurfaceroughness.
The currentNevertheless, in this paper we make the simplestpossibleas-
fieldinteractswith the surfacewavesand thuscausesa spatial sumptionthat the currentflow abovethe bathymetryis lami-
modulation of the Bragg scatteringwaves. However, in the nar, free of any vertical current gradient, and only weakly
case of SAR imaging, in addition to the above mentioned time-dependent.Furthermore, we assumethat the tidal veloci-
amplitudeor cross-sectionmodulation,phasemodulationmay ty component U. normal to the direction of the underwater
also contributeto the imaging.The phasemodulationmecha- ridgeor bank obeysthe continuityequation
nism does not require amplitude modulation of the Bragg
waves(seesection2.3). U_•(x_•)
d(x_•)= const= c (la)
4. Underwater bottom topography has been observedby
andthattheparallelcomponent
U IIremains
constant,
Ka bandreal apertureradar evenat wind speedsof 10 m s-•
(Beaufort4) [McLeish et al., 1981]. Consequently,RAR imag- U II = const (lb)
 ALPERS
ANDHENNINGS'IMAGINGMECHANISMS
OFBOTTOM
TOPOGRAPHY 10,531

Here d(xO denotesa depth profile along a line perpendicular In the specialcasewhere S = 0, (2) togetherwith (4a) and
to the ridgedirection,x•_. (4b)statesthat action densityN is conservedalong a ray path
Current measurements on and off the sandbank South Falls in four-dimensionalphasespace.This is a well-known equa-
by Vennand Olier [1983] in the SouthernBight of the North tion in many fields of physicsand is applicablewhen waves
Sea (northeasternapproach to the English Channel), where propagatefreely in a slowly varying medium.As an example
the tidal currentflows acrossthe bank at an obliqueangle, we mentionherethe propagationof Alfv6nwavesin interplan-
have confirmedtlaat (la) and (lb) are acceptablefirst-order etaryspace[Vb'lket al., 1974].
approximations.However, deviationsfrom thesesimplerela- In the caseconsideredherethe shortBraggscatteringwaves
tions are observed,and a more refinedtheory shouldaccount are subjectnot only to a variable surfacecurrent but also to
for them. Note that (la) and (lb) imply that the tidal stream the action of the wind, to nonlinearenergytransferto other
vector changesdirection when the flow crossesa sandbank at waves, and to nonlinear dissipationprocesses[Hasselmann,
oblique angles: when approaching the crest it is deflected 1972; Hasselmannet al., 1973, 1976]. If no variable current
away from the bank direction,and when leavingthe crestit is were present, then the short surfacewaves would be in local
deflected back toward the bank direction. equilibrium,and their spectrumwould be the Phillipsequilib-
Having reducedthe bathymetry-currentinteraction to the rium or saturation range spectrum[Phillips, 1977, pp. 140-
verysimpleequations(la) and (lb), we havenow to developa 159-].However, a horizontal current gradient perturbs this
theoreticalmodel to relate the amplitudemodulationand the equilibriumand causesa modulationof the energyspectrum
phase modulation to the surface current variation. With re- of the short waves.
spectto cross-sectionmodulation,we again make drasticsim- We assumethat the variable surfacecurrent leads only to
plifying assumptionswhich we believeare justified in a first- smalldeviationsof the actiondensityfrom equilibrium.There-
order theory. With theseassumptionsthe current-short-wave fore we write the action densityN and the surfacecurrent U
hydrodynamicinteractioncan be describedby a simpleequa- as sumsof a constantequilibriumterm and a time-dependent
tion which is easilytractablemathematically. Such a hy- perturbation term
drodynamicmodulationtheoryis presentedin section2.2. The
phase modulation, however, is a theoretically well-known N(x, k, t) = No(k) + 6N(x, k, t) (6)
imagingmechanism[Larsonet al., 1976;AlpersandRufenach, U(x, t)= Uo + •U(x, t) (7)
1979'Alperset al., 1981'Alpers,1983]andis brieflyreviewed
in section 2.2. Furthermore,we approximatethe sourceterm S by a diagonal
operatorand keep only the linear term in a perturbationseries
2.2. HydrodynamicModulation expansion [Alpers et al., 1981]. In this approximation the
Sincethevariation
of thesurface dueto interaction transportequation(2) reads
current
with bottom topography has spaceand time scalesthat in dN/dt = - !•gN (8)
generalare small in comparisonto the spaceand time scales
of the shortripple waves,the current-Braggwaveinteraction where# is a parameterwith dimension (time)-1.The parame-
can be describedby a Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin-type inter- ter p is calledthe relaxationrate,and z, = p- • the relaxation
action theory [Schiff, 1955; Longuet-Higgensand Stewart, time. One refersto (8) as the relaxationtime approximationto
1964; Whitham,1965; Bretherton,1970; Willebrand,1975]. In (2) [Keller and Wright, 1975; Wright, 1978; Alpersand Hassel-
this theory the transportequation,which describesthe vari- mann,1978, appendixB]. Physically,z, is the responsetime of
ation of the spectralenergydensityof shortwavesin a slowly the wave systemto current variations.It is determinedby the
varying current field, is the action balance or radiation bal- combinedeffect of wind excitation,energy transfer to other
ance equation [Hasselmannet al., 1973; Keller and Wright, waves due to conservative resonant wave-wave interaction,
1975;AlpersandHasselmann, 1978;Wright, 1978].This equa- and energyloss due to dissipativeprocesseslike wave break-
tion reads ing. No measurementsof the relaxation time in the open
oceanexist.However,from theory we expectthat z, is of the
dN
order of 10-100 wave periods.Applied to SeasatSAR Bragg
dt -Ze[N]=•+:i•xx+ •-• N=S(x,k,t) (2) waves,which have a wavelengthof 34 cm and a wave period
where of 0.47 s, this meansthat r, shouldlie in the rangebetween4.7
and 47 s. In this paper we considerz, (or p) as a free parame-
N(x, k, t) = E(x, k, t)/co' (3) ter.

We now insert the decompositions

(6) and (7) into (8) and
is the action spectrum,E(x, k, t) the wave spectrum,co'the obtain
intrinsicfrequencyof the wave in a referencesystemwhich is
locally at rest, x- (x, y) the space variable, k the wave Ze[No] + •9a[gN] = - •gN (9)
number,and S(x,k, t) a sourcefunction.The wavespropagate Since
alongtrajectoriesin phasespacewhich are givenby the ray
equations
c•'•
No= •xxNo= 0 (10)
5•= c•co/c•k (4a)
the first term of (9) containingthe unperturbedactiondensity
l• = - c•co/c•x (4b) N reduces to the "refraction" term

where
c•No
ZeENo]= •k
co(x,k, t) = co'(k)+ k. U(x, t) (5)
c•U c•No
denotesthe wave frequencyin the movingmediumwith vari-
able velocityU(x, t).
-k.
c•x
• ki•Ui
i,j=1,2
c•No (11)
•Xj cqkj
10,532 ALPERS
ANDHENNINGS:
IMAGINGMECHANISMS
OFBOTTOM
TOPOGRAPHY

Thesecond
identityfollows
wheninserting
(4b)and(5)for1•. caseof short-longsurfacewaveinteraction.The dominanceof
The secondterm of the left-hand side of (9) containingthe the local time is the reasonwhy the modulationof the short
perturbedactiondensity6N gives wavesby the long surfacewavesis relativelyweak: the dwell
time of short wavesin flow regionswith positiveor negative
strain rates OU/Oxis determinedby the period of the long
= + (%+ u0). ON surfacewaves.Therefore the weak hydrodynamicinteraction
has not sufficienttime to build up a strong modulation. Note
whereeg= Oc0'/Ok
is theshort-wave
groupvelocity.
Herethe
terms that after half the period of the long surfacewave the short
wavesenter from a convergentinto a divergentflow regime
O• O O(k. gU) OgN and vice versa. Consequently,the modulation of the short
.... 6N= (13)
0x 0k 0x 0k waveschangessignat twicethefrequencyof the longwaves.
However, the situation is different for the present case of
and short-wave interaction with surface currents over bottom to-
pography.Here the dwell time of short wavesin regionsof a
6U.•xx6N (14) givensign of the strain rate is determinedby the advection
time, which typically has valuesrangingfrom severaltens of
havebeenneglected
because
they are of secondorder.Thus(9) seconds to several minutes. Thus the weak interaction can act
reduces to longer on the short waves and can potentially generatea
strongermodulation.However,in the caseof tidal flow over

[0 0x+#I6N=+k.OU
•+(%+U0).•x Ox'ONo
Ok (15) large-scalesubsurface features,like sandbanks,the advection
time can be so large that it is evenlarger than the relaxation
The time scales of the three terms on the left-hand side are time. In this case the relaxation time determines the short-
wave modulation. The relaxation time is a measure of how
given by the local time T, the advectiontime %, and the
relaxationtime z,. The local time is of the orderof the period much disequilibriumthe short-wavesystemcan endure.The
of the semi-diurnal tide divided by 2•r, which is 12.5 short wavescannot be strainedinfinitely; the limit is given by
hours/2n• 2 hours.The advectiontimeis givenby •r'
We now solve(17) by Fourier transformation.By introduc-
z• = I(%+ U0). Kl-' (16) ing the Fourier representations
where K is the wave number of the bottom topography.The
advection time and the relaxation time are always small in
comparisonto the local time (xa and zr are typicallyof the
•N(x,
k)=;;o•
n(K,
k)e
iKx
dK (18a)
order of 1 min or smaller).Therefore the first term of the
gU(x)= u(K)e
'KxdK (18b)
left-handsideof (15) can be neglectedagainstthe secondand
third term. Thus (15) reducesto
(17) becomes

I(%+ U0)'•xx
c91
+ # 6N= k. cgU
O'•'cgNø
O'•- (17) n(K, k) =
K. (% + Uo)+ i#
[K. (%+ Uo)]2 + #2 ß[k.u(K)](K.
0No•
In an explicit tensor notation the right-hand side of (17) is (19)
given by (11). Equation (17) statesthat the sum of advection
and relaxation of the action density perturbation is balanced If we assumea power law dependenceof the short-wave
by "straining" exerted on the wave systemby the spatially energyspectrumœo= co'Noof the form œo~ Ikl-• (• is equal
varying current U. to 4 if a Phillips equilibrium spectrumis assumed),then (19)
As has alreadybeennoted in connectionwith (11), the right- becomes
hand side of (17) representsa refraction term. It originates
from the fact that the spatially variable current U refractsthe n(K, k) K. (%+ Uo)+ i# K. k
short waves,i.e., changestheir wave number. A wavenumber No [K.(%+Uo)]
2+#2(•+7)-•- [k.u(K)]
changecausesa local perturbation of the equilibrium action (20)
(or energy)spectrumof the short waves,becausethe equilibri-
um action densityspectrumNo varies as a function of wave where7 is given by
number.Thus the steeperNo is as a functionof wave number, k 8co'
the largeris the modulationgN/No = gE/Eo. -
co' Ok
Furthermore, the modulation is proportional to the velocity
gradient(or the strain rate) OU/Ox.Note that the left-hand with k = Ikl.
side of this approximationto the spectraltransportequation Inserting the dispersionrelation for water waves
(17) is differentfrom the correspondingleft-handside of the
approximation used for describingthe weak hydrodynamic
co'= gk +- k3 (22)
interaction betweenshort and long surfacewaves [Alpers and P
Hasselmann,1978]. In the latter casethe local time T is given
by T = f•-•, wheref• is the radian frequencyof the long where •/denotes the accelerationof gravity, z the surfaceten-
surfacewaves.This impliesthat T is typically of the order of 2 sion,and p the densityof water, 7 reads
s, which is short in comparisonto % and zr. Therefore the
partial time derivative term cannot be neglected in (15). 11 + 3k2. z/•tp
Indeed, it is just this term which dominatesthe othersin the 7=• k2z/gp (23)
 ALPERSAND HENNINGS'IMAGINGMECHANISMS
OF BOTTOMTOPOGRAPHY 10,533

For gravitywaveswe obtain7 = «, and for capillarywaves

3

We are interestedin the modulation of Bragg waves per-

taining to a givenradar configuration.The wave vectorks of
theseBragg wavesis given by /
x.....•Tx L \ .w
tidal
ks = +__
2ko (24)
whereko denotesthe projectionof the radar wavevectoronto
the horizontal plane. According to Bragg scatteringtheory, • < flight
direction
the normalizedradar backscatteringcrosssection(NRCS) a is
Fig. 1. Geometryof the model and definitionof symbols.
proportional to the sum of the spectralenergy densitiesE of
the short surfacewavesat the Braggwave vectors+__2ko'
the modulation of the normalized radar cross section from the
a = T. [E(+ 2ko) + E(-2ko)] (25)
Fourier componentsu,,(K) of the velocity profile in the an-
Here T denotes a scatteringcoefficientwhich can be calcu- tenna look direction. The only free parameter is the relaxation
lated from Bragg scatteringtheory and which dependson rate #, or, equivalently,the relaxationtime zr. Note, however,
incidenceangle,dielectricconstant,radar wavelength,and po- that the modulationdependson the spectralenergydensityof
larization. This functon is given explicitly [see Wright, 1968; the short wavesin both +2ko- and -2ko- directionsand
Valenzuela,1978]. that the recedingand advancingBragg wavescontributewith
If we define•a by differentweightings(see(30)). For the recedingBragg wave the
weighting
factorcontainsthetermUo + %(q-2ko),andfor the
•a = a - ao (26)
advancingBraggwavethetermUo - co(q-2ko).
where ao is the constantbackgroundNRCS correspondingto In general, E + and E_ are different, sinceE is a function of
areas where •U(x)= 0, then the radar cross-sectionmodula- wind direction[Jonesand Schroeder,1978]. Consequently,the
tion is given by modulation is a function of the angle betweenthe wind vector
and the antenna look direction and the angle between wind
•a(x, ko)= T. E•E(x, + 2ko) + •E(x, -2ko)] (27) and current direction.
where •E = •'•N. If co(+2ko)- + Uo or co(+2ko)= - Uo (conditionfor
We now choosea coordinatesystemin whichthe projection "blocking"of Bragg waves),then one of the two terms on the
of the radar antennaaxis onto the horizontal plane is the x right-hand side of (30) is determined solely by relaxation.
direction (see Figure 1). In this case the wave vector of the Blockingof Bragg wavesdoesnot give rise to a singularbe-
havior of the modulation transfer function. Since in most cases
Braggwaveshas only an x component,k = (k•, 0). The Fou-
rier transformof (20) then reads(assuming• = 4) the relaxationterm dominatesthe advectionterm, blockingis
consideredto be only of minor importance for the imaging
•N(x, k3 •E(x, •) process.
No(L) Inspection of (30) shows, for example, that the hydro-
dynamic modulation is largest when the wind is blowing
against the current. However, we shall show below that this
=- (4+ dependenceof the modulationon wind directionis not signifi-
cant for large-scalebottom topographic features.Note also
ßKx ßux(K)e
iKxdK (28)
that Uo includes the wind drift, which is about 3-4% of the
If we define a hydrodynamicmodulation transfer function wind velocity. Thus the NRCS modulation becomes wind-
(MTF) Mhy&(K,k) by dependentalso via this term.
In many casesof tidal flow over bottom topographythe

•a(x)
_f••Mhy&(K,
k•)u•(K)eiKx
dK(29)ationtimezr = #- •, i.e.,
advectiontime % (see(16))is smallin comparisonto the relax-

then,according
to (27)and(28),Mhydr(K
, kx)isgivenby ß• • IK. (%+ Uo)l-• <<• (32)
4+7 If condition(32) applies,then (30) reducesto
Mhydr(K'
kx)
= --E++E_
4+7
Mhydr(K
) = -iK•, (33)

Inserting(33) into (29) yields

K.
+ EK.(Uo
--
(Uo + g- (3o) c•a(x)
ao
4 + 7 c•U•,(x)
# c•x
(34)
where
This relationshipbetweencross-sectionmodulation and cur-
E+ = Eo(+2ko) (31a) rent gradientconstitutesthe main result of this paper. Note
that in this approximationthe modulationis independentof
%+ = %(+2ko)= -%(- 2ko) (3lb) wind direction.
This MTF relates the current variations in the look direction Now we want to investigatein more detail the parameter
of the antenna to the cross-section modulation. rangefor which(34) is a valid approximation.Restrictingour-
Equation (29) together with (30) allows the calculation of selvesto the SeasatSAR case,we expectthat the relaxation
10,534 ALPERSAND HENNINGS'IMAGINGMECHANISMS
OF BOTTOMTOPOGRAPHY

rate of the 34-cm SeasatSAR Bragg waves is larger than 0.02 wheregrad• d is the gradientof the depth profile in the direc-
s-x (see the discussion
following(8)). Thereforeif the in- tion perpendicularto the bank crest,IUol do cos 'v-
equality do= c is the constantdefinedby (la), IUolis the modulusand
1 0.02 Uoñ is the normal componentof the undisturbedcurrent ve-
I(%(+
2ko)
+ Uo)'KI< (1%
+1+ IUol) locity,do is the water depth outsidethe bank area, and • is
the anglebetweenthe (undisturbed) flow and the x•_direction
=5 x 10-3s-X (35) (seeFigure 1). If we insertthe gradientof the depthprofilein
is fulfilled,then the relationship(32) is approximatelysatisfied. flow directiond' into (39), we obtain
Here L denotesthe length scale(not the wavelength)of the
6{7 4+7 d'
slope of the subsurfacefeature in the cross-trackor x direc-
tion.Inserting
thegroupvelocity
leg(___
2ko)l= 0.36m s-• and {70 - It lgol
doCOS2
• •'• (40)
a typicalvaluefor thesurface
currentvelocity[Uol= 1 m s-x, Thisequationwill be usedwhencomparingSeasatSAR image
we obtain from (35) the condition L >• 300 m. This condition intensityvariationswith bottomtopography.
is fulfilled for the sandbanks in the Southern Bight of the If the real apertureradar is a linear imagingsystem,then
North Sea,which we are considering. the relative RAR image intensitymodulation(6I/Io)RARis
However,the generalexpressionfor the cross-sectionmodu- equal to the relative variation of the radar crosssection
lation due to hydrodynamic interaction contains both the
relaxation and the advection term. The effect of the advection (C•I/Io)RA
R= (c•l/Io)hydr
= 6{7/6
0 (41)
term on the imagingmechanismamountsto the addition of a Sincethis modulationis due to hydrodynamicinteraction,we
low-passfilter to the imaging. The transfer function of the alsousethe subscripthydr,synonymously with RAR.
low-passfilter in two-dimensionalK spacereads Accordingto (39), RAR shouldimagebottom topography
best when the current flow is in the cross-track direction and
K. (% + Uo) + iit It
r = ß- (36)
whenthe topographicfeaturesare alignedparallelto the flight
[K. (%+ Uo)]2 + ]22 i
direction.However,bottomtopographyshouldnot be imaged
The bandwidthKc of this low-passfilter can be definedby
by RAR when the flow is parallel to the flight direction
IKc' (% + Uo)l= It (37) (• = 90ø)or whentopographicfeaturesare alignedin the flow
direction(•b -- 90ø).
A typical value for the cutoff wavelengthAc = 2•/IKcl is Ac = However, some caveatsare associatedwith the predicted
250m, whichis obtained wheninserting
I%+ Uo]= 1 m s-a strongdependence of the modulationon azimuthangle•b(see
andIt = 0.025s- • into(37),andassuming
K (%+ Uo).Thus (40)).This strongazimuthaldependence is a consequenceof
the cross-sectionvariations due to hydrodynamicinteraction the fact that we have neglectedin our model the interaction
representa low-passfiltered replica of the current gradient betweenshortsurfacewavestravelingin differentdirections.If
field OU,,/Ox. this interaction were included, then we would obtain a weaker
In this paper we shallrestrictourselvesto thosecaseswhere azimuthaldependence
of the modulation.Thereforewe expect
(34) is applicable,i.e., where the advectiontime is large in that bottom features become detectable even when the current
comparisonto the relaxation time. flows parallel to the flight direction(•b= 90ø).However,for
In termsof the componentsof the flow velocityperpendicu- •b= 90ø the radar signatureshould be much weaker than for
lar andparallelto thebankcrest,Ul and U II,(34)reads 4,-0 ø.

6{7 4-{-• COS2

•
....
•o • 0U, 2.3. PhaseModulation(Velocity Bunching)
The phasemodulationor velocitybunchingis a SAR pecu-
liar artifact which has no counterpartin real apertureradar
- sin
• cos
• • 0x•+ +sin
e• (38a)
imaging.It resultsfrom the fact that SAR recordsthe phase
Here • denotesthe angle betweenthe x and the x• (normal to history•0(t)of the radar returnto achievea fine azimuthal(or
the bank crest)direction or, in other words, the angle between along track) resolutionby exploitingthe motion of the radar
the flight direction and the direction of the sandbank (see platform to generatea long syntheticantenna.A SAR tuned
Figure 1). for stationarytargetspositionsthe target in azimuth at zero
In our model all terms except the first term vanish. Thus Doppler frequency,d•o/dt= 0. In the caseof a cross-trackor
(38a) reducesto side-lookingradar antenna,zero Doppler is encountered for a
stationarytarget exactly in the beam center.However, when

ao
6•= 4+7cøs
2• OU•
•
the targethas a velocitycomponentUr in the rangedirection,
then zero Doppler frequencyis encounteredat an azimuth
angle of
OU,
---•hydr
0X.i
- (38b)
• • tan • = Ur/V (42)
However, a word of caution should be added here. It is
awayfrom the beamcenter(V is the platformvelocity).If the
permissibleto replace (38a) by (38b) only if the simple one-
range of the target is R, then a SAR tuned for stationary
dimensional model for describing the bottom topography-
targetsdisplacesa movingtargetin azimuthby
currentinteractionis applicable.Often this interactionis more
complex, and in this casea full three-dimensionaldescription 6y = -R(U/V) (43)
is required.
If the radial velocity of scatter elementsvaries in azimuth
Inserting the continuity equation (la) into (38b) yields
direction(c•U,./c•y
v• 0), then the displacement6y of the scatter
_ grad elementsin the SAR image is nonuniform.There are regions
{706{74+•IUol
It do
cos
• COS
2• d2 (39) in the image which have a deficiencyand others which have
 ALPERS
ANDHENNINGS:
IMAGINGMECHANISMS
OFBOTTOM
TOPOGRAPHY 10,535

an abundanceof imaged scatterelementsper unit length in

azimuth. The depletion and bunchingof scatter elementsin 61¾.b. R
j/r sin
OIUol
do
cos4•sin
4••y (48)
the image plane, which dependson the sign of the velocity
gradient, amounts to a modulation of the image intensity Here d' denotes the slope of the depth profile in the flow
direction.
[Larsonet al., 1976;AlpersandRufenach,1979;Alpers,1983].
For Note that according to (45) the relative image intensity
modulationdue to velocitybunchingdependslinearly on U,,.
(RIV) OU,/Oy<<1 (44) In this case we can define a velocity bunching MTF in ana-
the relative variation of the image intensityin azimuth due to logy to the hydrodynamic MTF given by (33). This MTF
reads
velocitybunchingis equal to the relative variation of the den-
sity of the imagedscatterelementsin azimuth,which is equal R
to (R/V)SU•/Sy (seeFigure 2). Note that the modulation pat- Mv.b.(K,
k)= i • sinOKy (49)
tern due to velocitybunchingreversessignwhen the platform
Ky denotesherethe variablein Fourierspacecorresponding
velocity V or the flow profile reversessign. If we write the to the variabley in physicalspace.
radial targetvelocityU• in termsof the cross-trackhorizontal In order to characterizethe parameterrangein whichveloc-
target velocity U,, and the radar incidenceangle O, then we ity bunchingmodulation is fairly linear, we approximatethe
obtain for velocitybunchingmodulationthe expression condition(44) by
R 8U r
(6I(y)• =_Rsin
• Io Jv.•. V
O•3y (45) Tfy _<0.3 (50)
In termsof thecomponents
Ux and U Hof theflowvelocity The correspondingconditionfor the applicabilityof weak hy-
perpendicularand parallel to the bank crest and the an•e drodynamicinteraction theory and for the linearity of hy-
betweenthe x and the xx direction(seeFigure 1),(45) reads drodynamicmodulationis

4+78U,
=--
(5l(y)•
Rsin •cos4(
O{sin •U• •U•l.
•'• v3xH
) # 8x
0.3 (51)

In those caseswhere hydrodynamicand velocity bunching

+cos2
• •U•_sin2
• •J (46a) modulation constitute linear imaging processes,the sum of
thesetwo (complex)MTF's yieldsthe total SAR MTF
In analogy to (38b) we retain in our simplemodel only the
first term. Thus (46a) reducesto MSAR= Mhyar+ Mv.•. (52)
Insertingfor Mhydr
theapproximation
(33)andfor Mv.b.equa-
5l(y)•= ?a sin
Ocos
• sin
• 3Ux tion (49), we obtain

3Ux MSA•= -- i K• sin©Ky (53)

=•*'•'3x• (46b)
The total relative SAR image intensity modulation is then
or, after insertingthe continuityequation(la), given by

•I = Rsin
(•) v.b.OIUol
do
cos
• cos
• sin
V • gradx•
de (6I/Io)sAR
= (6I/Io)hy,•+ (6I/Io)v.b.
Note that both modulationscan have positiveas well as nega-
(54)

(47) tive signs.This implies that the total SAR image intensity
modulationis either enhancedor reducedas comparedto the
RAR imageintensitymodulation.
currentprofile currentprofile Now we want to obtain an estimateof the relative mag-
type1 (•) type2 nitude of hydrodynamicand velocity bunchingmodulations.
Comparisonof (38b) and (46b) showsthat both modulations
I t,dol
flow
direction
flow
direction are proportionalto 8U,/Sx, and that the proportionalityfac-

U,{Yo)
4,
tt'f ]Ux(Yo) tors are

Phydr
= 4+7cøs
24) #
imo,
ge plone
Y
in the caseof hydrodynamicbunchingand
R
/•v.•.=- sin O cos 4) sin 4)
V
/ imoge • õI RdUx•
/ intensitylI I T•=V•-I I I
in thecaseof velocitybunching
modulation.
ThefactorJfihy•rJ
has its maximumat 4• = 0ø (4• is the anglebetweenthe flight
flig?direction and the sandbank direction), and at •b= 45ø. With
V # = 0.025s-•, 7 = 0.5, R/V = 130s, and (} = 20ø (applicable
Fig. :2. Schematicplot of syntheticaperture radar (SA•R)image to SeasatSAR) we obtain the following maxima of the pro-
intensitymodulation duo to velocity bunching:(a) two current pro- portionality factors:
files of oppositesigns,which are typical for tidal flow over sandbanks;
(b) corresponding imageintensityprofilesin flight direction. Ifihyarlmax
= 180s Ifiv.•.lmax
= 22 s (55)
10,536 ALPERS
ANDHENNINGS'IMAGINGMECHANISMS
OFBOTTOM
TOPOGRAPHY
 ALPERSAND HENNINGS.'IMAGING MECHANISMSOF BOTTOMTOPOGRAPHY 10,537

,::::: .

ß .

:..; ::
ß.. i;'

:'.::..
..... .......

.:i•. ..,;• :%?

' ';::' .-•-;.:B

;B
10,538 ALPERSAND HENNINGS:IMAGINGMECHANISMS
OF BOTTOMTOPOGRAPHY

small-scalesurfaceroughness(which correspondsto increased

imageintensity
in RARimagery)
is encountere•l
on thedown-
dU<0 stream side of a subsurfacebarrier. We have looked through
image
htensity
• d• severalGerman and British seachartsof the EnglishChannel
I: Io(1 + 5I/Io) i (convergent) and found that these charts often contain entries giving the
positionof "overfalls"or "tide rips" as a functionof tidal flow
direction.Thesetide rips are areas of distinctlyincreasedsur-
•I dUd•]•J'•
]'o dx -- •I I•'>0 faceroughnessvisiblefrom a boat. One exampleis British sea
chart 2610, showing the Underwaterridges Portland Ledge
I A •, and St. Albans Ledge at the southerncoast of England. The
entriesare suchthat the tide rips are always positionedon the
downstreamsideof the underwaterridge.
AftOther
example
showing
thiseffect
canbefoundin the
work by Gordonet al. [1983]. They show in their paper a
photographof the seasurfacetaken from a shipin the vicinity
of Asia Rip (PhelpsBank, Nantucket Shoals,off the coastof
•f•e ro•s Massachusetts)together with the measured bank profile.
Again, increasedsurfaceroughness
is found on the down-
I I
-- -{Ulx) streamside,immediatelybehind the bank crest.
m i UJx)
1 I • , I 3.2. X Band Real ApertureRadar Imagery
•ter • I till flow •
m
depth ..• I dir•tion..• • of AsymmetricSand Waves
A seeminglypeculiar,and not yet explainedfeaturein real
I m
,.'
apertureradar imageryof underwatersand waveswas noted
• x by de Loot [1978, 1981] when comparingtwo RAR imagesof
the same site but at different times with reversed directions of
Fig. 4a. Schematicplot of the relationshipbetweenan asymmet-
ric sand wave profile and associatedvariationsin tidal current veloci- the tidal flow. He f6und that the two RAR imagesfrom a site
ty, short-scalesurfaceroughness,and radar imageintensity.The steep in the North Sea, approximately30 km off the Dutch coast
slopesof the sand waves face the flow direction and are associated near Noordwijk am Zee, show a reversal of contrast. This
with stronglyreducedimageintensity(dark streaks). means that one image looks like the negativeof the other.

Thus for these parameters the magnitude of hydrodynamic

modulation is larger by a factor of 8 than velocity bunching
modulation.
As stated before, the description of velocity bunching by
formulae like (45), (46b), (47), (48), and (49) is only applicable
when inequality (50), or more precisely,inequality (44), is ful- image
intensity
i• • I
dU

filled. If this is not the case,then the relative image intensity I = Io{1+ $I/Io) i•--•-• I {divergent)
modulation due to velocitybunchingis given by [Alpers and
Rufenach,1979; Alpers,1983]
6!
(6l(y)'• p. exp-- Io dx d2 •'o•1 <o
F.

ß Y- Yo- '• U,.(yo)dyo

- 1 (56)
Here p. denotesthe SAR azimuthalresolutionß
3. COMPARISON WITH EXPERIMENTAL DATA

3.1. Visual Observations seaIsurface

ro•:jl'•
One of the main predictionsof our imaging theory is that
the imageintensityor gray levelvariationsare proportionalto I i Ulx) i ..,x)
the slopeof the underwaterbottom topographydividedby the I wot,
r I j . L ...,
tid;I I I
squareof the waterdepth,d'/d2. In particular,in the caseof [ •;•'1• ..• direction
RAR imaging we obtain the result that image intensity en-
hancement occurs on the downstream side of the subsurface
..'
feature.Unfortunately,all the RAR imageryof bottom topog-
•x
raphy we know of has uncertaintiesin scenepositioningso
large that this prediction cannot be proven by correlating Fig. 4b. Same as Figure 4a but with flow direction reversed.
Now
the steep slopeslie on the downstreamside and are associatedwith
RAR imageintensitywith bottom profiles. strongly increased image intensity (bright streaks). The result is a
However, there is ample evidencefrom visual observations reversalof the image intensitymodulation pattern, which makes the
documented in sea charts that in tidal channels, increased imagesof Figures3a and 3b look like negativesof eachother.
 ALPERSAND HENNINGS' IMAGING MECHANISMS
OF BOTTOMTOPOGRAPHY 10,539

...

0 .
"'
..
"5 '1'0km.

English..
• --.- coast
f{:ight direction
•.*.:... '%.....
ß

Fig. 5a. Digitallyprocessed

SeasatSAR imageof the SouthernBightof the North Seafrom orbit 762 (August19,
1978,0646UT) with framecenterat 51ø19'26"N,
1ø52'51"E.
The land areain the bottomleft-handcorneris the English
coastnear Ramsgate.The V-shapedfeaturein the centeris the sandbanksSouth Falls and Sandettie.
10,540 ALPERSAND HENNINGS:IMAGINGMECHANISMS
OF BOTTOMTOPOGRAPHY

! -,. /

$1'00'N Z'OO'E

Fig. 5b. Simplifiedsea chart of the sea area shown in Figure 5a togetherwith the tidal velocityfield encountered
during the Seasatoverflighton August19, 1978,0646 UT. The numbersabovethe tidal streamvectorsdenotethe velocity
in centimetersper second,and the numbersbelow denotethe directionrelativeto N. The dashedlinespresentthe 20-m
depthcontours.
The windwasblowingfromtheSE at 4 m s-:.

These images, which were taken by the Dutch EMI side- downstream of the sand wave crests,which are associatedwith
looking airborne radar (SLAR) (X band real aperture radar), weakly convergentcurrents,exhibit a slightly increasedsur-
are reproducedin Figures3a and 3b. face roughness.Therefore they appear on the image with a
In this area of the North Sea the water depth is 20-25 m, slightlybrightergray tone level.
and the range of the tide is 1.5-2 m. During the times of the In the secondcase(Figure 4b), where the flow direction is
overflights,'
tidal currentvelocities
were+(0.4-0.5)(Figure3a) reversed,the steep slopesare located downstreamfrom the
and -(0.6-0.7) m s-• (Figure3b),respectively.
The heightof sand wave crests.The steepsloperegionsare now associated
the sand waves above seaflooris typically 4 m, and the dis-
tance between successivecrests,lying at about 90ø to the
coast,is 300-500m. Therefore
I(%+ Uo).Kt-x _>50 s, and
tidal flow
(34) shouldbe applicablefor describingthe cross-section
mod- [•]
ulation. J$ direction
Furthermore, the height profiles of the sand waves are Td[mid' ./'•
asymmetric:they have their steepslopesto the N-NE [Hou- 0.5

bolt, 1968; McCave, 1971; Terwindt, 1971]. Terwindt [1971] 0

:-.,,..•'-"-'::
.......... :-•.o
reports that in this sea area the slope at the steepfacescan
-0.5 -
attain valuesup to 0.15.
We now show that our simple hydrodynamicinteraction -1.0-

theory is capable of explaining de Loor's observation.In x10-•

Figures4a and 4b the relationshipbetweenbottom profileand

RAR image intensity variation is shown schematically for 2/.
both cases.
In the first case (Figure 4a) the steep slopesface the flow
direction, and the steep slope regions are associatedwith
30
strongly divergent surface currents in which the spectral
energydensityof the Bragg wave sharply decreasesbelow its
average(equilibrium)value. Consequently,thesesurfaceareas
36
exhibit a much reduced radar backscatter. Since the width of
the steepsloperegionsis small,they appearas thin distinctive Fig. 5c. Plot of d, d'/d2,andI/I o across
SouthFallsalongtheprofile
dark streaksin the image (Figure 4a). However, the regions (arrow) shownin Figure 5a.
 ALPERS
ANDHENNINGS:
IMAGINGMECHANISMS
OFBOTTOM
TOPOGRAPHY 10,541

Fig. 6r. Digitallyprocessed

SeasatSAP.imageoœthe SouthernBightoœtheNorth Seaœrom orbit?62(August19,
1978,0646UT) withœram½ centerat $1ø30'40"N
and2ø31'2Y'E.
(Thetop part oœFigure$r is identicalto thebottompart
oœthis figure.)

with stronglyconvergent surfacecurrentsin whichthe spectral The above exampleclearly showsthat suchradar imagery
energydensityof the Braggwavessharplyincreases aboveits can be used to infer the direction of the asymmetryof sand
averagevalue.Consequently, thesesteepsloperegionsappear waves.However,the presentRAR imagerydoesnot allow the
as thin, distinctive,bright streaksand not as dark streaksas derivation of a quantitative relationship between gray tone
before.However, the regionsupstreamof the sandwave crests level and cross-sectionvariation, becauseof unknown nonlin-
are now associatedwith weakly divergentcurrents.Therefore earities in the radar system and the photographic repro-
they appear on the image with a slightly darker gray tone duction process.
level. An orderof magnitudeestimateof the cross-section
modu-
10,542 ALPERS
ANDHENNINGS:
IMAGINGMECHANISMS
OFBOTTOM
TOPOGRAPHY

2' •'N

."?'
,,, _,-- • •,:--'. .... - &:.,'
• ,-' ..- ,-' r2} l # .•

. ,,- ,,- . ,, %. ,:•,, %•, •-. ....;, ..: .....

.. ,,,- ,. •.r.... ..- %. ,-....,.,•

Fig. 6b. SameasFigure5bbutforseaareashownin Figure6a.

lation can be obtainedfrom our hydrodynamicinteraction tidalvelocityvectorsat the timeof theoverflightinserted. The
model.If we insertd • do= 20 m, d' = 0.07for the steepest tidal current fields were derived from the tidal stream atlas of
slope,IUol= 0.6 m s-•, •b= 0ø, q•= 0ø, # = 0.025s-•, and the BritishAdmiralty(Tidal StreamAtlas,Dover Strait, 1975;
• = 0.5 into (39), then we obtain North Sea,southernportion,1976).Accordingto themeteoro-
logicalmap the wind wasblowingfrom 135øNat 4 m s-•.
(50'/0'
0 • 0.38 (57)
In Figure 5a the Englishcoastnear Ramsgateis visiblein
This seems to be a reasonable value which is consistent with the lower left-hand corner. The dark feature on the left-hand
the radar imagery. sideon the bottomis GoodwinSands,whichfallsdry at low
tides.The V-shapedfeaturein the centeris a pair of two
3.3. SeasatSyntheticApertureRadarImageryof Sandbanks underwater ridgescalledSouthFalls(a thin line to the left)
The predictionof our imagingtheorythat radarimagein- and Sandettie(the broaderline to the right).SouthFalls is
tensityvariationscorrelatewith the slopeof the bottom to- about 30 km long and 600-800 m broad and risesto within 7
pographydividedby the squareof the depthprofileis sub- m of the seasurface.Its slopeis steeperto the westthan to the
stantiatedby an analysisof digitallyprocessed SeasatSAR east.Sandettie, however,hasa verygentleslopeto the north-
imageryof large sandbankslocatedin tidal channels.We have westand a very steepslopeto the southeast.Note that both
chosenfor our investigation SeasatSAR imagescontaining banksare not alignedparallelto the meantidal flowdirection.
landmarks.Theseimageshave a sufficiently high geometric South Falls has an anticlockwise and Sandettie a clockwise
accuracy( • 100 m) that it is possibleto establishsucha corre- offsetwith respect
to the regionaldirectionof the peaktidal
lation.The analyzedareaslie in the easternapproachto the flow [Kenyonet al., 1981; Kenyon,1983]. The seafloorbe-
English Channel. tweentheridgeshasa depthtypicallybetween30 and40 m.
The SeasatSARimagespresented
in thissectionare digi- Sandwaves(megaripples)
are alsovisibleon theimage,es-
tally processed
and have a spatialresolutionof 25 m x 25 m pecially at the southernend of South Falls and on Sandettie.
(fourazimuthallooks).Theywereprocessed by the Deutsche Thesandwavecrestsarealignedapproximately perpendicular
Forschungs-und Versuchsanstaltffir Luft- und Raumfahrt to themeantidalflowdirection. The maximumheightof these
(DFVLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen, WestGermany,on the Mac- sandwavesis about 10 m aboveseafloor,but the typical
DonaldDettweilerand Associates digitalSeasatSAR pro- averageheightof sandwavesin this regionis 4 m. Typical
cessorfor theEuropeanSpaceAgency(ESA). wavelengthsare 300-500m [Van Veen,1936].
Figures5a, 6a, and 7a showdigitallyprocessedSeasatSAR Figure6a showsthecontinuation of theSeasatSARimage
imagesof theSouthernBightof theNorth Sea(thenortheast- of Figure5a towardthe northeast,and Figure7a showsthe
ern approachto the EnglishChannel)fromorbit 762(August continuation towardthe'southeast. By comparing Figures6a
19, 1978, 0646 UT), and Figures5b and 6b show the corre- and6bit canbe seenthat thosesandbanks whicharealigned
sponding(simplified)seachartsto Figures5a and 6a with the approximatelyparallel to the tidal flow direction are not
 ALPERSAND HENNINGS:IMAGINGMECHANISMS
OF BOTTOMTOPOGRAPHY 10,543

.•. ß.;• -, .............. .,.:,.•

ß
:, .....
..' -•..4;•-....'
' .-"':,..
,,,.•. ';'•'•:½"
./

-•; .-'..%.:,.,.' -'.-r" • i.•.•. <' .'-:'•....

-,:½
.....
. :.:;.•
•½..½
'•:. ...
., ..
'....•......
•; ,, ..

.-•..
•..:.,. ß ,.•
...

..%:..:•

...:

...

:-.

"flightdirection
.....
-"• .:,•'..
;•";.'•.•.•E...;
;.;,•.•:.-

Fig. 7a. Digitally processed

SeasatSAR imageof the SouthernBightof the North Sea/Frenchcoastfrom orbit 762
(August19, 1978,0646 UT) with framecenterat 50ø57'30"N,
2ø11'38"E.
The parabolic-shaped featureNW of Calaisis
Ridens de Calais, an ebb-dominated shoal.
10,544 ALPERS
ANDHENNINGS'IMAGINGMECHANISMS
OFBOTTOMTOPOGRAPHY

d_.L assumea relaxationrate of 0.025 s- • corresponding to a

o]
J
•
tidalflow
Io relaxationtime of •:r= 40 s. This can be verifiedby inserting
IUol- 0.60m s-•, do= 40 m, 4)= 48ø,7 = 0.5,R/V = 130s,
S•d[m
i direction J and O = 20ø into (40),(41),and (48) and calculating the hy-
drodynamic and velocity bunching modulations at the lo-
cation where d'/d2 attainsits maximumvalue,0.78 x 10-'•
03 10 .
m-2. The result is
02 -15
(Jl/lo)hydr-+0.15 (58)
01 15 = 0.04 (59)
0 20 -10
%. ..' •. i/ - (6//Io)sAR= (6I/Io)hydr
+ (6I/Io)v.•,.
= 0.19 (60)
-o• u '-'3_':• --'[ Thisvalueisidenticalto themeasured maximumof Jl/Io.
For SouthFalls both hydrodynamicand velocitybunching
-o2 Io •o5 modulationhavethe samesign,leadingto a largemodulation
-03 •, 1 km depth. However, for Sandettie the two modulations have dif-
x10-3 ferent signs,leading to a reducedmodulationdepth. Hy-
drodynamicmodulationyieldsincreasedradar reflectivityon
Fig. 7b. Plot of d, d'/d2, andI/I o across
Ridensde Calaisalongthe the downstream side, i.e., on the southeast side of Sandettie
profiJ½ (arrow)shownin Figure 7a.
Bank,whilevelocitybunchingyieldsincreased
imageintensity
on the downflight side, i.e., on the northwest side. This is
imaged.Examplesare ThorntonBank,GooteBank,Bergues, becausethe current velocity profile is of type 2 shown in
Bank, and the northern leg of Fairy Bank. This observed Figure 2. The presentSAR imageof Sandettieclearlyshows
angulardependence is predictedby our imagingtheory.Ac- that hydrodynamicmodulationis the dominatingimaging
cordingto (39) and (47), hydrodynamicas well as velocity mechanism.
bunchingmodulationvanishes for q•= 90ø. In the caseof Ridensde la Rade(Figure7b)the SAR image
Figure 7a shows the North Sea off the French coast be- intensitycurvedoesnot followexactlythe d'/d2 curve.I/Io
tween Dunkerqueand Calais. The U-shapedfeaturein the looksmorelike a low-passfilteredreplicaof d'/d2. This is in
lowerleft-handcorneris an "ebb-dominated" shoal[Van Veen, accordance with our theory(seethe discussion following(36)).
1936]consisting of the sandbanks Ridensde Calais(left)and In order to obtain an estimate of the relaxation rate from
Ridensde la Rade (right). In this shoal the directionof the thisprofilewe calculate (•I/Io)hydr
and (Jl/lo)v.•,
' at the lo-
tidal currentduringthe Seasatoverflightwas toward 250øN, cation where d'/d2 attainsits minimum value, -1.0 x 10-'•
andthe velocitywas1.7m s-•. The windwasblowingfrom m-2. Herethe effectof the low-pass filteron the imaging
the SW at 4 m s-•. Notethatlargeimageintensity
modula- should be negligible. Measured and theoretical modulation
tion alsooccursstrictlyin rangedirection(4>= 0ø),wherethe
depthscoincideif a relaxationrate of # = 0.028 s-•, corre-
velocitybunchingmodulationis inactive(see(48)). spondingto a relaxationtime of •:r= 35 s, is assumed.This
In orderto obtaina quantitative
estimateof theSARimage canbe seenby insertingIUol- 1.7m s- •, do = 20 m, 4•= 34ø,
intensitymodulation(modulationdepth)we have correlated 7 = 0.5,R/V = 130s, and O = 20øinto (40),(41),and(48).The
the imagebrightness(graylevel)with the slopeof the depth result is
profiledevidedby the squareof the depth,d'/d: alongtwo
cuts across South Falls and Ridens de la Rade. These cuts are (6I/IO)hydr
= -- 0.37 (61)
depictedin Figures5a and 7a, and both are parallelto the
directionof the unperturbed
tidal flow.The depthprofilesd (6I/Io)v.•,.= +0.07 (62)
together
withd'/da areplottedin Figures
5cand7b.Theyare (6I/Io)sAR
= (6I/Io)hydr
+ (6I/Io)v.b.
= m0.30 (63)
constructedfrom sea charts.Furthermore, the measuredSAR
imageintensityor imagebrightness alongthesecutsis also Note that in thiscasethe condition(50)for the hydrodynamic
shown.It hasbeenobtainedby averaging overthreeadjacent modulationis slightlyexceeded.
parallelprofilesandby applyinga five-pointrunningaverage Astonishingly, both relaxationratesagreeremarkablywell.
procedure. However, we want to stresshere that these derived relaxation
We seefrom Figures5c and 7b that in both cases,increased ratescanonly be considered
asestimates,
sinceseveralparam-
image brightnessis encounteredon the downstreamside of
eters enteringinto the calculationof # are not precisely
the bank crest,aspredictedby the hydrodynamicmodulation known.For example,the slopeprofilesare not basedon sonar
theory.For the SAR imagesconsidered here,velocitybunch- measurementsbut are derived from sea charts, and the tidal
ing leadsto an increaseof imagebrightness on the upflight currents are not measured but are taken from a tidal stream
sideandto a decrease of imagebrightness on the downflight atlas.Furthermore,the currentvariationsoverbottomtopo-
of the sandbank,sincethe relativeconfiguration
of flightdi- graphyare calculatedby usingseveralsimplifyingassump-
rectionand currentvelocityprofile is of type 2 shownin tions.
Figure2. Thereforefor SouthFallsbothmodulations addup
positively, yielding a stronger total modulation, while for
Ridensde la Radetheyadd up negatively,
yieldinga weaker 4. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION
total modulation.
Thetheoryof theimagingmechanismof bathymetryby real
In the caseof SouthFalls(Figure5c),Jill o = I/I o - 1 and andsynthetic
apertureradarspresented
in thispaperis based
d'/d2 arehighlycorrelated,
aspredicted
by theory.Themea- on the followingprincipalassumptions:
suredmodulationdepth is explainedby our theory if we 1. The bathymetry-tidal current interaction can be de-
 ALPERSAND HENNINGS:IMAGINGMECHANISMS
OF BOTTOMTOPOGRAPHY 10,$45

scribedby a one-dimensionalcontinuityequation(see(la) and underwater features,where a dependenceon wind direction

(•)). enters via the advection terms (see the discussionfollowing
2. The current-waveinteractionis describableby weak hy- t30.
drodynamicinteraction theory. The relevant equation is the We have checkedthese predictionsby analyzing existing
radiation balanceequation(see(8)) containingthe relaxation RAR and SeasatSAR imagesof bathymetryin tidal channels
rate •, or equivalently,the relaxationtime •:,,as a free parame- in the SouthernBight of the North Sea and found that to first
ter. order the predictions are confirmed by experimental data.
3. Both the local time characterizingthe temporal vari- However,it shouldbe rememb,
eredthat thecomparisons
pre-
ation of the surface current and the advection time
sentedin this paper often sufferfrom the lack of a sufficiently
characterizing the advectionof the Braggwavesout of regions accurate knowledge of the oceanographicparameters of the
of large current gradientsare large in comparisonto the relax- imagedscene.
ation time (see(16) and (32)). We would like to add here that McLeish et al. [1981] have
4. The relaxation time is nonzero. already found in their data a confirmationof our predictions.
5. The relative image intensity modulations due to hy- Furthermore, Lodge [1983a] reports that steepgradientsare
drodynamicinteraction and velocity bunching are small in associatedwith bright regionson the radar image,in accord-
comparisonto unity (see(50) and (51)). ance with our prediction 3.
The theory makes the following predictionsfor large-scale An estimate of the relaxation time has been obtained by
bottom topographicfeaturessuchas sandbanksor sandwaves quantitativelycorrelatingimage brightnessvariations of digi-
with long wavelengths: tally processedSeasatSAR imagery with underwaterbottom
1. The radar signatureshave a double sign, which means topographyalong two profilesacrossthe sandbanksSouth
that the radar image of thesefeaturesis composedof image Falls and Ridensde Calais in the SouthernBight of the North
elementshaving both enhancedas well as reducedgray levels Sea.The relaxationtime of surfacewavesof 34 cm wavelength
in relation to the local mean. (SeasatSAR Bragg waves) is estimated to be 30-40 s, corre-
2. The modulationdepth of the radar reflectivityincreases sponding to 60-80 waveperiods(for a windspeedof 4 m s- •).
with tidal velocity and decreaseswith water depth (see(39) This value lies in the theoreticallyexpectedparameterrange.
and (47)). As far as we know, the relaxation time •r of short surface
3. The modulationpatternis not correlatedwith the depth waves has never been measured before in the open ocean.
profiled but with d'/d2,whered' is theslope. Thus we suggestthe use of radar imagery of tidal channels
4. For RAR imaging,enhancedradar reflectivityis always with underwater sandbanksor sand waves as a practical
encountered on the downstream side, and reduced radar re- means to measure •r in the open ocean. However, precise
flectivityis encounteredon the upstreamsideof the subsurface measurements of • require simultaneous surface current
feature. measurements.
5. Bottom topography is not imaged when the bottom The physicalexplanation of why our theory yields such a
featureis parallel to the currentdirection(q•= 90ø, see(39) large cross-sectionmodulation is as follows' in the case of
and (47)). tidal flow over bathymetry,the strainingexertedon the short-
6. Bottom topography is only faintly imaged when the wave systemby the velocity gradient is balancedmainly by
bank directionis parallelto the radar look direction(& = 90ø; the relaxation of the wave system.This balance is different
see(39) and (47) and the discussion following(41)). from the one activein the modulationof short wavesby long
7. When asymmetricsandwavesare imagedby real aper- surfacewaves,where the strainingis balancedmainly by the
ture radar at oppositephasesof the tidal cycle,then the two temporalvariation of the orbital velocity.Typically,the time
imagesexhibita reversalof contrast.One imagelookslike the scaleof the relaxation(the relaxationtime)is 1 order of mag-
negativeof the other(seesection3.2). nitude larger than the time scaleof the orbital velocity.The
The abovepredictionsare valid whenthe advectiontime •:a latteris givenby T = f•-•, wheref• is theradianfrequency
of
for the Bragg waves(see(16)) is small in comparisonto the the long surfacewaves.In the caseof short-wave modulation
relaxationtime r,. If thisis not the case,then a low-passfilter by long surfacewavesa strongmodulationcannot build up,
is addedto the imagingprocess. In this casethe imageinten- becausethe strainingcannotact sufficientlylong on the short
sity variations due to hydrodynamicmodulation are a low- waves.

passfilteredreplicaof the currentgradientfield as discussed in
connectionwith (36).The inclusionof the advectiontermsinto
the imaging theory is requiredwhen the subsurfacefeatures
containhigh wavenumbercomponents and whenthe current
velocityis large(see(35)).
If the relaxationtime is not constantbut dependson wind
speed,thenthe imagingof large-scale bottomtopographicfea-
turesis alsowind-dependent. Experimentsin wind wave tanks
show that r, decreases with wind speed[Keller and Wright,
1975;Wright, 1978].We expecta similarbehaviorin the open
ocean, and therefore the modulation depth should decrease
with wind speed.Our theorydoesnot supportthe existenceof
a critical wind speedabove which radar imagingof under-
waterbottomtopographybecomes basicallyimpossible.
Furthermore,we expectthat to first orderthe radar imaging
mechanismis independentof wind direction. However, this
statementdoes not apply for radar imaging of small-scale
Although the velocity gradient (strain rate) generatedby
tidal flow over bathymetryis typically 1 order of magnitude
smaller than the velocity gradient generatedby the orbital
motion associatedwith long surfacewaves,the modulation
can neverthelessbe larger, becausethe "interaction time" is
longer. In the case of tidal flow over bathymetry the cross-
sectionmodulationdue to hydrodynamicinteractionis pro-
portionalto the relaxationtime. This parameterdescribeshow
much deviationfrom equilibriumthe short-wavesystemcan
endurewhen beingstrainedby a variablecurrent.
Acknowledgments. We thank the ESA (Earthnet,Frascati)and the
DFVLR for providingthe digitallyprocessed SeasatSAR images,and
G. P. de Loor for making availableto us the EMI SLAR images.
Furthermore,we are grateful to many colleaguesfor very fruitful
discussions,
especiallyto R. H. Stewart,G. J. Komen, and K. Hassel-
mann. This research was supported by the Deutsche For-
 10,546 ALPERS
ANDHENNINGS:
IMAGING
MECHANISMS
OFBOTTOM
TOPOGRAPHY
schungsgemeinschafi, 94 (Meeresforschung Loder, J. W., Topographicrectificationof tidal currentson the sides
Sonderforschungsbereich
Hamburg). of GeorgesBank, J. Phys.Oceanoar.,10, 1399-1416, 1980.
Lodge,D. W. S., Expressionsof bathymetryon Seasatsyntheticradar
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W. Alpers, Max-Planck-Institut fiir Meteorologie, Bundesstrasse
55, 2000 Hamburg 13, Federal Republicof Germany.
I. Hennings,Institut fiir Meereskunde,Universiffit Hamburg, 2000
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(ReceivedFebruary 17, 1984;
acceptedMarch 22, 1984.)