Data from the European Space Agency's ERS 1 satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) covering the region of the East Australian Current during late 1991 have been analyzed in conjunction with ship and airborne data and infrared imagery. Apart from wind effects, the largest differences in backscatter seen to be associated with different water masses, these differences probably being caused by wave damping due to natural surfactants. Slicklike features in the Tasman Sea are common, even in the deep ocean, when the winds are light.

Ocean currents are often visible but as relatively subtle features. It is unlikely that the changes in atmospheric boundary layer stability due to changing sea surface temperature are the dominant mechanism for radar imaging of ocean currents. It is suggestedg that C band radar backscatter will prove to be more directly correlated with biological activity (and ocean color) than with sea surface temperature, particularly at higher latitudes. Surfactants could cause errors of 20% or more in wind speeds derived from satellite scatterometers. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995