The paper introduces the objectives of the ESA pilot project (AO-LF201) which comprise studies of coastal sea-states, oil slick pollution monitoring and internal wave detection with Synthetic Aperture Radar images (SAR).

Progress and difficulties in studying coastal sea-states and internal waves will be described. In particular, demonstration of using SAR images will be done in terms of calibration and validation of numerical models.

For sea state applications, this will include:

- simulation of deep water sea-state spectrum

- simulation of shallow water parameters including coastal tranfer

For internal wave detection, the models are:

- simulation of SAR image of Internal Waves

- simulation of Internal Waves generated by tidal flow

The need of the internal wave algorithms will be shown for operational applications:

- influence of internal waves on deep-water drilling

- influence of internal waves on sound wave propagation

Keywords: ESA European Space Agency - Agence spatiale europeenne, observation de la terre, earth observation, satellite remote sensing, teledetection, geophysique, altimetrie, radar, chimique atmospherique, geophysics, altimetry, radar, atmospheric chemistry