The Grand Banks experiment: A satellite/aircraft/ship experiment to explore the ability of specialized radars to define ocean fronts

At various times during 1978-1979, a joint U.S.-Canadian experiment involving ships, buoys, aircraft, and satellites was conducted in the waters southeast of the Grand Banks. The purpose was to determine the ability of satellite- and aircraft-specialized radars (SAR and SLAR) to monitor ocean fronts. The experiment results, detailed in this report, show that these radars are capable of defining thermal fronts under most weather conditions. The degree, as well as type, of definition depended on the angle the wind made with the thermal front and associated currents. Winds blowing parallel to the fronts produced shear lines in the SAR and SLAR imagery. Winds blowing orthogonal to the front produced broad patterns whose changes mark the location of the thermal fronts. This latter definition however, delineation was more gradual than the sharp thermal gradients marking the fronts seen in satellite infrared imagery. The possible causes of these effects are detailed in this report.