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ISSN 2070-7401 (Print), ISSN 2411-0280 (Online)
Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa
CURRENT PROBLEMS IN REMOTE SENSING OF THE EARTH FROM SPACE

  

Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2026, V. 23, No. 4, pp. 314-330

Rhine River plume patterns in the coastal zone of the North Sea observed by satellite radars

M.I. Mityagina 1 
1 Space Research Institute RAS, Moscow, Russia
Accepted: 12.05.2026
DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2026-23-4-314-330
The article examines the appearance of Rhine River plumes in satellite radar images of the sea surface in the coastal zone of the southern North Sea, which is characterized by intense tides. The study is based on a dataset acquired using C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on the Sentinel 1A and Sentinel 1C satellites over more than four years, from January 2022 to April 2026. A detailed analysis of the satellite data shows that all plumes detected in the sea surface SAR images of the study area are characterized by distinct frontal boundaries, where the backscattered signal intensity increases significantly. The transformation of surface ripples increases backscattered signal intensity at plume boundaries due to the interaction of surface waves and currents in the convergence zone near the front. The study reveals an impulsive regime of Rhine water plume formation in the coastal zone and analyzes the factors causing it. Special attention is paid to the spatiotemporal variability of Rhine water plumes in the coastal zone of the North Sea. A stable recurrence of plume-evolution scenarios, directly dependent on tidal phases in the study area, is demonstrated. Based on SAR data, the study reveals manifestations of complex multifrontal systems in the coastal zone of the North Sea near the Rhine mouth, as well as surface manifestations of internal waves in the sea.
Keywords: satellite remote sensing, sea surface, satellite radar, SAR, river runoff, coastal plume, ocean front, tides, North Sea
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