Satellite wave measurements for coastal engineering applications

Measurements from the GEOSAT, ERS-1 and 2 and Topex/Poseidon satellites hav e now accumulated to over 15 years of global ocean wave and wind data. Extr action of wave height, wind speed and wave period from the satellite altime ters and directional wave spectra from the synthetic aperture radars are re viewed along with recent validation and calibration efforts, Applications o f the data to a variety of problems illustrate the potential of satellite w ave measurements. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.