Abstract

A proper understanding of the dynamics of the air-sea interface is essential, not only to fundamental fluid mechanics, but also to many areas of applications, for example, synthetic-aperture radar imaging of ocean surfaces. In many of these applications, the role of small-scale structure (i.e., short water waves) in the overall air-sea interaction process is of particular importance. Because short waves are strongly influenced by wind, currents, and larger waves, investigations of small-scale structure in an ocean environment are difficult. In order to characterize the topography of a dynamically-evolving patch of ocean surface, we have developed a scanning laser slope gauge (SLSG).

© 1993 Optical Society of America