Optical image and laser slope meter intercomparisons of high‐frequency waves

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Abstract
Spectral analyses of optical images of the ocean surface, obtained by the Riverside Research Institute digital video system, are presented and compared with wave data measured simultaneously by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Waverider‐mounted laser slope meter. The image analyses, which incorporate several new ideas, provide two‐dimensional wave number spectra of slope, covering wavelengths from 10 cm to 10 m. These slope spectra are converted to wave height spectra by a new technique which includes the effects of sky radiance gradients. Space‐time spectra are also presented for waves whose frequencies are less than 2 Hz. The JPL slope frequency spectra are compared with image wave number spectra which have been converted to frequency spectra by use of the gravity wave dispersion relation. Results of comparisons between the frequency spectra obtained from the two different measurements show reasonable agreement for frequencies less than 3 Hz.

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