Airborne scanning lidar measurement of ocean waves

A scanning lidar system provides high-resolution three-dimensional measurem ents of ocean wave displacement. The airborne operation further enhances th e speed of data acquisition. These properties allow rapid characterization of the ocean wave environment. In addition to active ranging, the scanning optics can obtain passive measurements of surface emissivity, yielding a di gital image of surface brightness in real time. Processed into a binary ima ge, these measurements can provide information on the average statistics an d the spatial distribution of breaking waves. Technical specifications of t he system and examples of application are presented. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.