SIMULATION STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF SAND DIGGING AND HEAPING ON SAR IMAGING IN THE PEARL RIVER ESTUARY

Abstract. There are frequent sand digging and heaping activities in shoal in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE). Water depth has changed in patches, which can be imaged by synthetic aperture radar (SAR). According to SAR imaging mechanism of underwater bathymetry, a 3-D hydrodynamic model is used to demonstrate the temporal variations of the shoal topography changes due to sand digging and heaping. A microwave radar imaging of oceanic surface’s program is used to simulate the variation of normalized radar cross section (NRCS) induced by the ocean surface current. The simulation is carried out to study the digging-heaping shape, water depth changes on SAR imaging of shoal bathymetry. Results indicate several points as followings. 1. Circle-shaped sand digging and heaping are imaged clearer by SAR than other shapes. 2. Sand heaping has a greater effect on SAR imaging than sand digging. 3. Bigger depth change induces bigger NRCS variation.