Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data analyses for offshore wind energy and coastal applications

DTU Wind and Energy Systems possess a large satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) archive of ocean surface wind maps. The PhD study aims to utilize and improve the reliability of such data for offshore wind energy and coastal applications. SAR data has global coverage. They are independent of atmospheric conditions as they can be observed through rain and clouds. During the day and night, SAR data is retrieved. At each overpass of the polar-orbiting satellites with SAR sensors on board, valuable data is collected. A classical output from SAR is spatially high-resolution ocean surface wind fields. The wind speeds are retrieved at 10 m height. Another output from SAR is wave parameters. These two parameters are central in studying offshore wind energy and coastal applications. Furthermore, a novel approach to derive the ocean aerodynamic roughness length is developed and tested in the study.