Similarities and differences in spatial scales of wind forcing of the ocean surface measured in situ, and the ocean's response to that forcing as imaged by SAR

We describe results of a field campaign whose central piece is nearly simultaneous SAR imagery of the ocean surface and in situ, aircraft-based turbulence measurements in the marine surface layer above that surface. One result is the verification that "streaks" in a SAR image (that is, primarily parallel lines of enhanced radar backscatter whose spacing scales with the boundary layer depth) can be the signature of structured atmospheric forcing of the ocean surface by roll vortices in the atmospheric boundary layer. Another is the realization that this signature consists of multiple scale features, some having a counterpart in the structure of the wind forcing, and some without a counterpart, being more suggestive of a time-integrated response by the ocean's surface waves to the wind.