Ocean Features from Seasat

Published July 2, 2003

This image shows the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, northeast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Acquired by an imaging radar, the scene shows several features that would be difficult to observe with visible light. In the center of the image are a series of widely-spaced internal waves. The subsurface, internal waves are detectable by radar imagers because they modify the patterns of shorter wavelength waves on the sea surface. The brightness of the radar image depends on the roughness of the surface (smooth surfaces reflect radar waves away from the sensor, while rough surfaces reflect them back towards the sensor).

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