A Comparative Analysis Between the ENVISAT and ICEYE SAR Systems for the Estimation of Sea Surface Current Velocity

In this work, we present the results of a comparative analysis between the first-generation Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) sensor mounted on board the ENVISAT platform and the novel ICEYE micro-satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensor in measuring the radial velocity of ocean curren...

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Main Authors: Virginia Zamparelli, Pietro Mastro, Antonio Pepe, Simona Verde
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/1/164
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author Virginia Zamparelli
Pietro Mastro
Antonio Pepe
Simona Verde
author_facet Virginia Zamparelli
Pietro Mastro
Antonio Pepe
Simona Verde
author_sort Virginia Zamparelli
collection DOAJ
description In this work, we present the results of a comparative analysis between the first-generation Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) sensor mounted on board the ENVISAT platform and the novel ICEYE micro-satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensor in measuring the radial velocity of ocean currents through the Doppler Centroid Anomaly (DCA) technique. First, the basic principles of DCA and the theoretical precision of the Doppler Centroid (DC) estimates are introduced. Subsequently, the role of the DC measurements in retrieving the sea surface current velocity is addressed. To achieve this goal, two sets of SAR data gathered by ASAR (C-band) and from the X-band ICEYE instruments, respectively, are exploited. The standard deviation of DCA measurements is derived and tested against what is expected by theory. The presented analysis results are beneficial to evaluate the pros and cons of the new-generation X-band to the first-generation ASAR/ENVISAT system, which has been extensively exploited for ocean currents monitoring applications. As an outcome, we find that with inherently selected methods for DC estimates, the performance offered by ICEYE is comparable to, or even better than (with specific parameters selection), the consolidated approaches based on the ASAR sensor. Nonetheless, new SAR constellations offer an undoubted advantage regarding improved spatial resolution and time repeatability.
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spelling doaj-art-f0620f46495a4aee8ae9ba6081b338432025-01-24T13:37:06ZengMDPI AGJournal of Marine Science and Engineering2077-13122025-01-0113116410.3390/jmse13010164A Comparative Analysis Between the ENVISAT and ICEYE SAR Systems for the Estimation of Sea Surface Current VelocityVirginia Zamparelli0Pietro Mastro1Antonio Pepe2Simona Verde3Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment (IREA), Italian National Research Council, 328, Diocleziano, 80124 Napoli, ItalyInstitute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment (IREA), Italian National Research Council, 328, Diocleziano, 80124 Napoli, ItalyInstitute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment (IREA), Italian National Research Council, 328, Diocleziano, 80124 Napoli, ItalyInstitute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment (IREA), Italian National Research Council, 328, Diocleziano, 80124 Napoli, ItalyIn this work, we present the results of a comparative analysis between the first-generation Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) sensor mounted on board the ENVISAT platform and the novel ICEYE micro-satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensor in measuring the radial velocity of ocean currents through the Doppler Centroid Anomaly (DCA) technique. First, the basic principles of DCA and the theoretical precision of the Doppler Centroid (DC) estimates are introduced. Subsequently, the role of the DC measurements in retrieving the sea surface current velocity is addressed. To achieve this goal, two sets of SAR data gathered by ASAR (C-band) and from the X-band ICEYE instruments, respectively, are exploited. The standard deviation of DCA measurements is derived and tested against what is expected by theory. The presented analysis results are beneficial to evaluate the pros and cons of the new-generation X-band to the first-generation ASAR/ENVISAT system, which has been extensively exploited for ocean currents monitoring applications. As an outcome, we find that with inherently selected methods for DC estimates, the performance offered by ICEYE is comparable to, or even better than (with specific parameters selection), the consolidated approaches based on the ASAR sensor. Nonetheless, new SAR constellations offer an undoubted advantage regarding improved spatial resolution and time repeatability.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/1/164Doppler Centroid (DC)Doppler Centroid Anomaly (DCA)sea surface velocitySAR micro-satellitesICEYE
spellingShingle Virginia Zamparelli
Pietro Mastro
Antonio Pepe
Simona Verde
A Comparative Analysis Between the ENVISAT and ICEYE SAR Systems for the Estimation of Sea Surface Current Velocity
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
Doppler Centroid (DC)
Doppler Centroid Anomaly (DCA)
sea surface velocity
SAR micro-satellites
ICEYE
title A Comparative Analysis Between the ENVISAT and ICEYE SAR Systems for the Estimation of Sea Surface Current Velocity
title_full A Comparative Analysis Between the ENVISAT and ICEYE SAR Systems for the Estimation of Sea Surface Current Velocity
title_fullStr A Comparative Analysis Between the ENVISAT and ICEYE SAR Systems for the Estimation of Sea Surface Current Velocity
title_full_unstemmed A Comparative Analysis Between the ENVISAT and ICEYE SAR Systems for the Estimation of Sea Surface Current Velocity
title_short A Comparative Analysis Between the ENVISAT and ICEYE SAR Systems for the Estimation of Sea Surface Current Velocity
title_sort comparative analysis between the envisat and iceye sar systems for the estimation of sea surface current velocity
topic Doppler Centroid (DC)
Doppler Centroid Anomaly (DCA)
sea surface velocity
SAR micro-satellites
ICEYE
url https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/1/164
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