Space Panoramic Radio Altimeter Model: Imaging of the Developing Tsunami Wave Field in a Bistatic Quasi-Mirror Radar

Abstract

A model of the formation of the gradient sea-level field by the space bi-static radar measurements is developed. An interferometer radar with cross-sectional base is used as a receiver. The relatively small antenna 5–10 m of cross-sectional base gives a huge gain in energy when working for quasi-mirror scattering in the range of short wind waves. The efficiency of the system is evaluated by converting the dynamical model of tsunami wave evolution for the case of the Kuril earthquake (October 4, 1994) into a panoramic radar image of the sea level. The panoramic image of the front wave allows predicting the direction, amplitude and, finally, the expected time of tsunami arrival to a given point. The obtained radar image confirms the main feature of the quasi-mirror method: the fluctuation-level sensitivity varies within the radar swath (~2000 km) and is the worst near the mirror point. For the chosen radar parameters, the average sensitivity in the swath is ~5 cm for a site (15 × 15) km. Without accounting the time required to transmit information from the receiver to the tsunami–prone sites, the minimal time interval between the appearance of the wave front and the tsunami alert is determined by the number of sequentially launched small tandem spacecrafts. For a single tandem this time is about 45 min.