| Both natural and artificial (ship-induced) features of atmospheric motions can be seen in ocean radar imagery. Observations of a surface wake extending downstream from the atmospheric vortices in a thermal ship plume are described. To demonstrate the usefulness of radar systems in observing the ocean surface, we studied the behavior of hot ship exhaust, using a 2.25-cm-wavelength airborne radar. The ship-induced feature in the polarimetric radar images was observed in the ocean surface cold environment with moderate horizontal ambient winds. The smoke-like feature appears only in the vertically-polarized images, and not in the horizontally-polarized images. |
