Hydrodynamics and remote sensing of far wakes of ships

The visibility of ship wakes on SAR images has been reported to depend on many factors, including ship parameters, sea and weather conditions, and radar modes. The analysis is complicated by the fact that the sea and weather conditions and parameters of the ship that produced the wake are usually unknown. On the example of the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas and the International SeaKeepers Society volunteer ships we demonstrate that collection of SAR images from ships that report operational and hydrometeorological data opens new opportunities in ship wake research. The Explorer of the Seas is equipped with the Atmosphere and Ocean laboratories maintained by the University of Miami, which report ship telemetry, photo images of the ship wake, and atmospheric and oceanic conditions around the ship in near real-time.