Ocean waves interact with the environment in many ways. They transport energy and mass, and the resultant sea-surface roughness defines the drag coefficients that transmits wind energy to the ocean (Drennan et al., 2003). Through erosion and deposition, waves change the shape and landscape of coastal areas. Storm surge waves can cause flood damage in coastal areas. Recent studies revealed that wetlands are sensitive to the wave condition, which determines the retreat or growth of coastal ecosystems (Green and Coco, 2007; Mariotti and Fagherazzi 2010). Human activities rely on the condition of waves to conduct marine activities such as fishing, shipping, oil extraction, and offshore constructions. Thus, it is important to understand ocean waves to improve earth system modeling, protect the coastline, predict storm surge, preserve coastal ecosystems, and enhance the offshore business. This project will explore the application of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery to predict significant wave height near the coast. High-frequency (HF) radar data of the ocean (aka CODAR) was used as ground truth data set to calibrate and validate the wave height estimator. Off-shore wind data was also included. The developed code will enhance the current capability to process the satellite data and create a new platform to monitor the coastal environment. The collected data will help further our understanding of the wave spectrum in a coastal environment and the data can support other research in the related topics, e.g. the interaction of waves and ice sheets, wetlands, shorelines, wind farm and aquaculture.