An Introduction to SAXON‐FPN

The Synthetic Aperture Radar and X Band Ocean Nonlinear it ies (SAXON)‐Forschungsplatform Nordsee (FPN) program was a 3‐year effort to investigate radar backscatter from the ocean and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery of the ocean. A secondary objective of the program was to explore the relationship between acoustic and microwave scattering from the ocean surface. The program was a joint effort between the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany. It consisted primarily of a major field experiment (phase I) in the North Sea on and around the German Forschungs‐platform Nordsee (FPN) during November 1990, a second, smaller field experiment (phase II) on the same platform in November 1991, and a series of four data analysis workshops.