OCEAN RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF SHIP-INDUCED INSTABILITIES IN THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY-LAYER

Both natural and artificial (ship induced) features of atmospheric mot ions can be seen in ocean radar imagery. Observations of a surface wak e extending downstream from the atmospheric vortices in a thermal ship plume are described. To demonstrate the usefulness of radar systems i n observing the ocean surface, the authors studied hot ship exhaust us ing a 2.25-cm-wavelength airborne radar. The ship-induced feature in t he polarimetric radar images was observed in the ocean surface cold en vironment with moderate horizontal ambient winds. The smokelike featur e appears only in the vertically polarized images, not in the horizont ally polarized images.