The retracking of radar waveforms is crucial in order to extend satellite altimetry information to the coastal zone, where particular targets (i.e. land, flat waters, ships) may act as signal contamination sources. On 13th of January 2012 the Costa Concordia cruise ship, with about 4200 passengers onboard, smashed its hull against the coast of Giglio Island, a tiny piece of land in the Tuscan Archipelago (Northwestern Mediterranean). Since then, the ship lies partly submerged in the water off the coast of the island. The dual-frequency radar altimeter (RA-2) on-board the ENVISAT satellite makes one descending pass (orbit 274) near Giglio Island, very close to the accident area (about 2Km), with a revisit time of 30 days. This particular condition represents a unique investigation opportunity, given by a steady and relatively large artificial target represented by the Concordia ship, being the orbit in the vicinity of a well-defined reflector, in addition to the pre-existing structure represented by the island. We propose here to analyze the physical and electromagnetic effects associated with this particular feature on the RA-2 waveforms, using a recently experimented tomographic technique (Scozzari et al., 2012). This activity can provide additional information for the interpretation of "bright targets" phenomena in the framework of a wider research activity aimed at the extraction of the geophysical information from radar altimetry signals in contaminated contexts.
Coastal Radar Altimetry: What Can we Learn from the Costa Concordia Accident?
Scozzari A;Vignudelli S;Soldovieri;
2012
Abstract
The retracking of radar waveforms is crucial in order to extend satellite altimetry information to the coastal zone, where particular targets (i.e. land, flat waters, ships) may act as signal contamination sources. On 13th of January 2012 the Costa Concordia cruise ship, with about 4200 passengers onboard, smashed its hull against the coast of Giglio Island, a tiny piece of land in the Tuscan Archipelago (Northwestern Mediterranean). Since then, the ship lies partly submerged in the water off the coast of the island. The dual-frequency radar altimeter (RA-2) on-board the ENVISAT satellite makes one descending pass (orbit 274) near Giglio Island, very close to the accident area (about 2Km), with a revisit time of 30 days. This particular condition represents a unique investigation opportunity, given by a steady and relatively large artificial target represented by the Concordia ship, being the orbit in the vicinity of a well-defined reflector, in addition to the pre-existing structure represented by the island. We propose here to analyze the physical and electromagnetic effects associated with this particular feature on the RA-2 waveforms, using a recently experimented tomographic technique (Scozzari et al., 2012). This activity can provide additional information for the interpretation of "bright targets" phenomena in the framework of a wider research activity aimed at the extraction of the geophysical information from radar altimetry signals in contaminated contexts.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
