Synthetic aperture radar image simulation of the internal waves excited by a submerged object in a stratified ocean

ABSTRACT

A submarine moving in a stratified fluid with sharp interfaces is considered. The velocity field and the waves created by a moving submarine on a sea surface are simulated with the computational fluid dynamics numerical method. The wakes in various patterns with different parameters are discussed and illustrated in both geometries and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. The hydrodynamic fields are utilized to obtain the electromagnetic (EM) scattering signatures of the internal waves. In order to simulate SAR images of the generated wakes, the spatial distributed EM field is necessary. For this purpose, the semi-deterministic facet scattering model is employed. The SAR images in different look directions demonstrate that the micro-internal waves on sea surface can be sensed from its Bragg component moving in the radar look direction by SAR.

KEYWORDS:

• Internal wave
• CFD simulation
• wake pattern
• electromagnetic scattering model
• SAR image

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 61771355], the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and the 111 Project (B17035).