Airborne sensors provide effective coverage of a broad region and are suitable for large-scale experiments. In this paper, two scanning sensors that use the direct ranging technique to measure surface wave displacement are described. On a NASA P-3 aircraft the sensors can complete one run across a 100-km continental shelf in 17 min. A case study is presented using radar-measured, two-dimensional surface topography to derive wave damping due to bottom friction. The results are in good agreement with an analytical model based on a quadratic formulation of bottom shear stress. This study demonstrates that remote sensing measurements can be used for rapid characterization of surface waves on the continental shelf and in coastal regions. Examples illustrated in this paper include the derivation of wavenumber spectra and estimation of the dissipation rate of shoaling ocean swell. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union