The first analysis of a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image over Tai­wan area is presented. This image was obtained from the Russian Almaz satellite of pass 7519. The brightness of the SAR images represents the backscattering cross section of the sea surface or the roughness of e sea surface that responds dynamically to the surface wind, the surfactant concen­tration and the divergence of surface current. Because SAR uses microwave as a working frequency, it can provide an on-fragmented image of the sea surface with the least interference om the cloud or weather system. In this study, weather maps, wave analysis maps, ship data, satellite thermal images and bathymetric charts were used to interpret the brightness variations of the SAR image northeast of Taiwan, and a wealth of oceanic features - slicks, sur­face waves, packets of internal waves, current, bottom topography, vortices, ships and ship wakes were und. These features should be further validated with shipborne measurements, satellite IR data, and SAR images from other satellites, like the first European Space Agency remote sensing satellite, the ERS-1.