Re:Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a tr...
by anc84 on Friday September 11, 2015 @08:57AM
(#10203389)
Scatterometry is not accurately measuring distances or a elevation model. Instead it relies "on the fact that winds moving over the sea influence the radar backscattering properties of its surface in a manner that is related to wind speed and wind direction."
Source: http://www.esa.int/esapub/bulletin/bullet102/Gelsthorpe102.p...
Based on this I would not be surprised if something similar as described in the grandparent post is possible with the latest and greatest in spy satellites. I'm guessing it would only be used with extremely high-value targets though. There is some interesting information available via the NRO if you dig around a bit.