Hydrodynamic effects in low-grazing angle backscattering from theocean

Time series of returned power, Doppler spectra and range versus time intensity (RTI) images collected from low-grazing angle radar backscattering from the ocean present features which cannot be explained solely within the framework of resonant Bragg scattering. We propose that most of the observed characteristics are a consequence of the way in which waves evolve on the surface of the ocean. We have built a model consisting of a hydrodynamic module and a radar response module. The hydrodynamics module includes most of the physics thought to be relevant to the evolution of a wavefield (i.e., nonlinear interactions, wind, and wavebreaking). The radar module computes the backscattering as the accumulation of Bragg response from every tilted facet of the reconstructed surface, except for those locations where hydrodynamic conditions leading to wavebreaking are detected. Facets involved in wavebreaking are assumed to contribute to the backscattering in a quasi-specular polarization independent fashion. The hydrodynamics module is used to simulate the evolution of a nonlinear wave field, starting from essentially monochromatic conditions. The evolution reproduces known characteristics of these systems, including the generation of sideband instabilities and downshifting. The radar response module is then exercised on the resulting surface at various stages of development. Simulated RTIs at very low-grazing angles reproduce the observed polarimetric characteristics, as well as their behavior when the grazing angle is increased. Simulated Doppler spectra reproduce the peak separation phenomenon observed in field measurements at very low-grazing angles and also show a behavior similar to that shown by field data when the grazing angle is increased     

Ku-band backscatter from the Cowlitz River: Bragg scattering with and without rain

Ku-band backscatter from the Cowlitz River in southwestern Washington State was measured for incidence angles from 0/spl deg/ to 80/spl deg/. The measurements were made for light-wind conditions with and without rain. In rain-free conditions, Bragg scattering was the dominant scattering mechanism for both horizontal (HH) and vertical (VV) polarizations out to 75/spl deg/, beyond which the SNR dropped very low at HH. When a light rain was falling on the river, the cross section increased substantially at moderate incidence angles. Doppler spectra taken during rain showed that VV polarized backscatter is primarily from Bragg scattering from ring waves, while HH polarization scatters from both ring waves and stationary splash products, depending on the incidence angle. From the VV polarized measurements, surface wave height spectrum for ring waves is inferred for light rains. Finally, a change in spectral properties was observed when rain changed to hail.     

Modeling of wind direction signals in polarimetric sea surfacebrightness temperatures

There has been an increasing interest in the applications of polarimetric microwave radiometers for ocean wind remote sensing. Aircraft and spaceborne radiometers have found a few Kelvins wind direction signals in sea surface brightness temperatures, in addition to their sensitivities to wind speeds. However, it was not clear what physical scattering mechanisms produced the observed brightness dependence on wind direction. To this end, polarimetric microwave emissions from wind-generated sea surfaces are investigated with a polarimetric two-scale scattering model, which relates the directional wind-wave spectrum to passive microwave signatures of sea surfaces. Theoretical azimuthal modulations are found to agree well with experimental observations for all Stokes parameters from near nadir to 65° incidence angles. The upwind and downwind asymmetries of brightness temperatures were interpreted using the hydrodynamic modulation. The contributions of Bragg scattering by short waves, geometric optics scattering by long waves and sea foam are examined. The geometric optics scattering mechanism underestimates the directional signals in the first three Stokes parameters, and predicts no signals in the fourth Stokes parameter (V). In contrast, the Bragg scattering was found to dominate the wind direction signals from the two-scale model and correctly predicted the phase changes of the upwind and crosswind asymmetries in T_υ and U from middle to high incidence angles. The phase changes predicted by the Bragg scattering theory for radiometric emission from water ripples is corroborated by the numerical Monte Carlo simulation of rough surface scattering. This theoretical interpretation indicates the potential use of polarimetric brightness temperatures for retrieving the directional wave spectrum of short gravity and capillary waves     

海洋环境对雷达海杂波后向散射特性影响分析

为分析海洋环境对雷达海杂波后向散射特性的影响,建立了一种基于修正复合模型方法的雷达海杂波后向散射关系模型。雷达入射余角较大时,主要散射形式为镜面散射;入射余角较小时,主要散射形式为Bragg散射。考虑了逆顺风条件下后向散射系数的差异性,改进了原有模型Bragg散射的方向海谱部分,增加了风向因子。利用模型对不同入射角条件下海洋环境因素与后向散射系数的关系进行了仿真计算。计算结果表明,当海面作为雷达波的反射面时,雷达后向散射特性十分复杂,风速、风向、海浪、降水、海面油污等海洋环境因素都会对其产生影响。其中,风速和有效波高对海面后向散射的影响最大,风向次之,降水再次之,而海面油污的影响最小。      

Laboratory study of polarized scattering by surface waves atgrazing incidence. I. Wind waves

Laboratory measurements of Ku-band scattering at grazing incidence are presented. This study was motivated by the need to understand the processes which significantly contribute to scattering at grazing incidence. A dual polarized (VV, HH) coherent pulsed Ku-band scatterometer with good temporal resolution (3 ns) was used to obtain Doppler spectra and the absolute cross-section of scattered signals for grazing angles from 6-12°, and winds in the range 2-12 m/s. Wire wave gauges were used to measure the wind-wave field. Measurements of the first few moments of the Doppler spectra (cross-section, central frequency and bandwidth) showed that the data separated into two groups. The first grouping corresponded to HH scattering in the upwind look direction, and was clearly associated with scattering from the dominant gravity wind-waves. The second grouping corresponded to HH scattering in the downwind look direction, and all VV scattering, and was consistent with Bragg scattering from free higher frequency waves. This classification of the electromagnetic scattering was consistent with comparisons of direct and Doppler measurements of the kinematics of the surface wave field. The electromagnetic classification was also consistent with asymmetries in the wave field which increased with increasing wind speed     

Numerical simulation of low-grazing-angle ocean microwavebackscatter and its relation to sea spikes

This paper presents the results of numerically simulating microwave backscatter from a deep-water breaking wave profile. Enhanced microwave backscatter from the crests of breaking waves has been hypothesized as the source of bright short-lived microwave radar echoes that are observed at low-grazing angles (LGAs). The characteristics of these “sea spikes” are distinctly different from the Bragg-scatter echoes that dominate measurements made at moderate grazing angles. Of particular interest is the high contrast that sea spikes present against ocean background backscatter when observed with horizontally polarized transmit/receive configurations [horizontal (HH) versus vertical (VV)]. This HH/VV contrast disparity has been attributed to polarization-selective cancellation of the direct reflection from the wave crest by the surface reflection. This hypothesis is reinforced first by showing evidence that VV polarization is suppressed in the intensity range that would normally be populated by the brightest scatterers. Histograms of unaveraged Doppler-centroid measurements show further that the depleted VV backscatter population is responding to scatterers that are moving much more slowly than the HH scatterers. The Doppler-centroid histograms provide a sharper delination between the two scattering populations than do the unconditionally averaged Doppler spectra that are more commonly reported. Finally, our numerical simulations show evidence of an interference mechanism that selectively suppresses VV backscatter. In our simulations, the polarization selectivity comes from the phase dependence of the backscatter from the wave crest. A Brewster phenomenon at the surface reflection point is not necessary     

Laboratory study of polarized microwave scattering by surface wavesat grazing incidence: the influence of long waves

Laboratory measurements of microwave scattering at grazing incidence from superposed wind and weakly nonlinear (AK<0.024) regular long waves are presented. This study is an extension of previous measurements with wind waves only. A dual polarized (VV, HH) coherent pulsed Ku-band (14 GHz) scatterometer with temporal resolution of 3 ns was used to obtain Doppler spectra and the absolute cross section of scattered signals for grazing angles from 6° to 25° and winds in the range 2-12 m/s. A wire wave-gauge array was used to measure the wind-wave field. Measurements of the frequency and amplitude modulation of the scattered signal due to the long waves showed that the data separated into two groups. The first grouping corresponded to HH scattering in the upwind direction and was clearly associated with scattering from the dominant gravity wind-waves on the crests of the long waves. In this case, the wind speed clearly influences the frequency modulation due to long waves. The second grouping corresponded to scattering in the downwind direction and was consistent with Bragg scattering from higher frequency waves. In this case the frequency modulation due to orbital velocity of the long waves was found to be weakly dependent on wind speed over the range of parameters studied. This classification of the electromagnetic scattering was consistent with comparisons of direct and Doppler measurements of the kinematics of the surface wave field     

Scattering from breaking gravity waves without wind

Scattering experiments from breaking gravity waves conducted at a wave tank facility at small grazing angles in the absence of wind are analyzed. Breaking gravity waves are studied using a fully plane polarimetric horizontal (HH), vertical (VV), vertically transmitted and horizontally received polarization (VH), and horizontally transmitted and vertically received polarization (HV) pulse-chirped X-band (8.5-9.6 GHz) radar in conjunction with optical instruments: the plane polarimetric optical specular event detector (OSED) and side-looking camera (SLC). Spatially and temporally resolved radar backscatter has been measured and temporally correlated to the data obtained from the optical diagnostics. The experiments yield the following results: (1) enhanced scattering compared to Bragg scattering levels occurs throughout the evolutionary process of wave-breaking, i.e., the radar scatters strongly from both the unbroken and broken surfaces; (2) an explanation is found for the observation that the scatterer Doppler frequency is slightly less than the Doppler frequency corresponding to the fundamental wave phase speed; (3) a representative non-Bragg cross section of a breaking wave can be obtained; and (4) a breaking wave surface is found to be an efficient depolarizer     

Numerical study on the along-track interferometric radar imagingmechanism of oceanic surface currents

The phase information in along-track interferometric synthetic aperture radar (along-track INSAR, ATI) images is a measure of the Doppler shift of the backscattered signal and thus of the line-of-sight velocity of the scatterers. It can be exploited for oceanic surface current measurements from aircraft or spacecraft. However, as already discussed in previous publications, the mean Doppler frequency of the radar backscatter from the ocean is not exclusively determined by the mean surface current, but it includes contributions associated with surface wave motion. The authors present an efficient new model for the simulation of Doppler spectra and ATI signatures. The model is based on Bragg scattering theory in a composite surface model approach. They show that resulting Doppler spectra are consistent with predictions of an established model based on fundamental electrodynamic expressions, while computation times are reduced by more than one order of magnitude. This can be a key advantage with regard to operational applications of ATI. Based on model calculations for two simple current fields and various wind conditions and radar configurations, they study theoretical possibilities and limitations of oceanic current measurements by ATI. They find that best results can be expected from ATI systems operated at high microwave frequencies like 10 GHz (X band), high incidence angles like 60°, low platform altitude/speed ratios, and vertical (VV) polarization. The ATI time lag should be chosen long enough to obtain measurable phase differences, but much shorter than the decorrelation time of the backscattered field     

Directional ocean wave measurements in a coastal setting using afocused array imaging radar

A unique focused array imaging Doppler radar was used to measure directional spectra of ocean surface waves in a nearshore experiment performed on the North Carolina Outer Banks. Radar images of the ocean surface's Doppler velocity were used to generate two dimensional spectra of the radial component of the ocean surface velocity field. These are compared to simultaneous in-situ measurements made by a nearby array of submerged pressure sensors. Analysis of the resulting two-dimensional spectra include comparisons of dominant wave lengths, wave directions, and wave energy accounting for relative differences in water depth at the measurement locations. Limited estimates of the two-dimensional surface displacement spectrum are derived from the radar data. The radar measurements are analagous to those of interferometric synthetic aperture radars (INSAR), and the equivalent INSAR parameters are shown. The agreement between the remote and in-situ measurements suggests that an imaging Doppler radar is effective for these wave measurements at near grazing incidence angles     

Low angle scattering from 2-D targets on a time-evolving sea surface

The results of a numerical investigation of the electromagnetic scattering from two-dimensional (2-D) targets on a time-evolving sea surface are presented. The 2-D radar cross section (RCS), or "echo width," is computed as a function of time as the sea surface evolves linearly using the spectrally accelerated generalized forward-backward method. It is shown that the RCS varies with time on the order of seconds, which is much longer than the typical pulse width or pulse repetition rate of search radars. It is also observed that for low-grazing angles of incidence the primary sea surface influence on the RCS comes from the long waves in the ocean spectrum.     

Measurement of the surface tension of water using microwavebackscatter from gravity-capillary waves

A technique developed for measuring the surface tension of fluid based on the resonant scattering of microwave radiation from gravity-capillary waves on the surface of the fluid is discussed. The method was implemented by generating monochromatic water waves in a tank, illuminating them with microwave radiation, and then tuning the water-wave frequency until Bragg resonance was observed, that is, until the backscattered power was observed to reach its maximum value. At resonance, the wavelength and wave frequency can be calculated from the physical parameters of the system and from the Doppler shift of the scattered radiation. Laboratory experimental results indicate an accuracy on the order of ±1.6 dyn/cm for the surface-tension measurement. This accuracy is in agreement with an error model based on the width of the Bragg resonance line. The technique is, in principle, nonintrusive and thus can be used for observing the properties of surfactants on water surfaces     

Incoherent bistatic scattering from the sea surface at L-band

A bistatic electromagnetic wave scattering model for the sea surface is developed to examine its wind dependence property over a wide range of incident angles along the specular direction. This is done by combining an existing scattering model with a sea spectrum recently reported in the literature. In general, electromagnetic wave scattering from a rough surface is dependent on the Fourier transform of the nth power of its height correlation function which can be computed numerically from the surface spectrum. This transform relation indicates that scattering is sensitive not only to the surface spectrum but also to its convoluted properties. Generally, surface scattering is sensitive only to a portion of the surface correlation measured from the origin. The size of this portion is a function of three variables (the incident angle, the surface height standard deviation, and the exploring wavelength) and the rate of decay of the correlation function. The decay rate near the origin of the sea surface correlation is very small, so much so that at L-band this portion is too wide for a two-term approximation of the correlation function. This is true in spite of the fact that the sea surface has a very large rms height. Thus, a scattering model based on geometric optics is generally not applicable at L-band especially at large angles of incidence. An additional finding is that in specular scattering wind dependence is stronger at larger angles of incidence for incident angles between 0 and 70° over the wind speed range of 4 m/s-20 m/s     

Measurement of oceanic wind speed from HF sea scatter by skywave radar

Remote measurements of the spatial mean ocean wind speeds were obtained using Doppler spectra resolved to 0.08 Hz from high-resolution HF skywave-radar backscatter measurements of the ocean surface. A standard deviation of 2.4 m/s resulted from the correlation of observed winds over the ocean and the broadening of the Doppler spectra in the vicinity of the higher first-order Bragg line. This broadening, for Doppler spectra unperturbed by the ionospheric propagation, is proportional to the increase in power caused by higher order hydrodynamic and electromagnetic effects in the vicinity of the Bragg line and inversely proportional to the square root of the radio frequency. A lower bound on the measure of wind speed was established at 5 m/s by the low resolution spectral processing and low second-order power. An upper limit is suggested by the steep slope in the region of the sea backscatter spectrum outside the square root of two times the first-order Bragg line Doppler.     

Very high frequency radiowave scattering by a disturbed sea surface Part II: Scattering from an actual sea surface

A two-scale model of rough surfaces is considered which permits theoretical interpretation of the features of very high frequency (VHF) scattering from such surfaces (say, from a sea surface). The scattering surface is assumed to be a superposition of small-scale ripple and large waves (swell). Reflection from the latter may he considered by the Kirchhoff approximation. The spatial spectrum of corrugations is taken into consideration; the calculations based on this model help to give an explanation of the behavior of the scattered intensity as a function of the angle of incidencepsi, and to establish which factors affect this dependence at various values ofpsi- Theoretically predicted dependence of the scattered intensity upon radio wavelengthlambda, depolarization of the scattered signal, and other features of the scattered radiation are in good agreement with the experimental data obtained from direct measurements. Frequency spectra of the backscattered signal were also investigated (experimental measurements were carried out at wavelengths 3.2 cm, 10 cm, 50 cm, 1.5 m, and 4 m). Observed shifts of the central frequency agree with results of other authors (for the range oflambda = 3cm to 200 m). The measured values of the spectrum width appeared approximately twice those theoretically calculated. This may be explained by the influence of dissipative processes and of fluctuations of the skin-deep layer drift velocities. Space correlation of the backscattered signal was also investigated (both theoretically and experimentally). 50 percent decorrelation occurs at distances compared with dimensions of a wave slope.     

Acoustic and electromagnetic wave interaction: estimation of Doppler spectrum from an acoustically vibrated metallic circular cylinder

The idea of using acoustically induced Doppler spectra as a means of target detection and identification is introduced. An analytical solution for the calculation of the bistatic scattered Doppler spectrum from an acoustically excited, vibrating, metallic, circular cylinder is presented. First, the electromagnetic scattering solution of a slightly deformed circular cylinder is obtained using a perturbation method. Then, assuming the vibration frequency is much smaller than the frequency of the incident electromagnetic wave, a closed form expression for the time-frequency response of the bistatic scattered field is obtained which can be used directly for estimating the Doppler spectrum. The acoustic scattering solution for an incident acoustic plane wave upon a solid elastic cylinder is applied to give the displacement of the cylinder surface as a function of time. Results indicate that the scattered Doppler frequencies correspond to the mechanical vibration frequencies of the cylinder, and the sidelobe Doppler spectrum level is, to the first order, linearly proportional to the degree of deformation and is a function of bistatic angle. Moreover, the deformation in the cylinder, and thus the Doppler sidelobe level, only becomes sizeable near frequencies of normal modes of free vibration in the cylinder. Utilizing the information in the scattered Doppler spectrum could provide an effective means of buried object identification, where acoustic waves are used to excite the mechanical resonances of a buried object.     

海浪谱的选择对海面电磁波散射建模的影响

海浪谱的选择对Bragg共振散射建模的影响是海面电磁波散射建模的关键问题。首先简介了海浪谱的概念,然后选择RA(Romeiser-Alpers)谱进行了Bragg共振散射建模,最后选择另一种具有代表性的PM(Pierson-Moskowitz)谱进行了Bragg共振散射建模,并通过仿真实验对两种海浪谱及其用于Bragg共振散射建模的效果进行了比较分析。获得的结论对合理地选择海浪谱具有指导意义。     

Studies of backscattered sea return with a CW, dual-frequency, X-band radar

A coherent, CW, dual-frequency,X-band radar was used to study microwave sea return from the Chesapeake Bay. It is shown that the product of the backscattered fields depends strongly on long surface wave properties. In particular, a sharp line is found in the product power spectrum whose frequency is that of the water wave whose wavelength is in resonance with the spatial period of the beat frequency between the two transmitted signals and whose wave vector is parallel to the horizontal line of sight. Thus, gravity wave dispersion relations can be obtained with the system. Furthermore, the degree of modulation of short waves by long ones is given by the intensity of the line. A broad background corresponding to the convolution of the single-frequency Doppler spectra is also seen in the product power spectrum. These results are shown to be interpretable by composite surface scattering theory.     

Measurement and classification of low-grazing-angle radar seaspikes

High-resolution dual-polarization X-band images of the ocean surface were obtained at a grazing angle of about 3°. Area extensive imaging allowed us to study the backscatter properties of sea spikes and to compare radar measurements with visual surface features evident from video recordings. The vertically polarized radar images consist of distributed scatter whose amplitude and Doppler velocity are modulated by larger scale gravity waves consistent with Bragg scattering and composite surface theory (CST). The horizontally polarized radar images are dominated by spatially discrete scattering centers (or sea spikes) moving at velocities comparable to the phase velocities of gravity waves beyond the spectral peak. These sea spikes also exist in the corresponding V-pol radar images, but are less prominent due to the dominant Bragg backscatter. Sea spikes are characterized by polarization ratios H/V that often exceed unity, typically by about 5 dB. Comparison of the larger spikes with simultaneous co-registered video recording of the surface indicates that approximately 30% of observed sea spikes are associated with actively breaking waves (whitecaps) while the remainder are identified with “steep” wave features. By classifying the larger sea spikes according to their corresponding surface features, we find hat the Doppler velocities for sea spikes due to whitecaps are noticeably faster (about 50%) than other sea spikes, though the distributions for both overlap significantly. We also find little measurable difference in the polarization ratios of the two classes of sea spikes as observed on the open ocean     

Scattering cross sections for composite rough surfaces using the unified full wave approach

The full wave approach is used to derive a unified formulation for the like and cross polarized scattering cross sections of composite rough surfaces for all angles of incidence. Earlier solutions for electromagnetic scattering by composite random rough surfaces are based on two-scale models of the rough surface. Thus, on applying a hybrid approach physical optics theory is used to account for specular scattering associated with a filtered surface (consisting of the large sonic spectral components of the surface) while perturbation theory is used to account for Bragg scattering associated with the surface consisting of the small scale spectral components. Since the full wave approach accounts for both specular point scattering and Bragg scattering in a self-consistent manner, the two-scale model of the rough surface is not adopted in this work. These unified full wave solutions are compared with the earlier solutions and the simplifying assumptions that are common to all the earlier solutions are examined. It is shown that while the full wave solutions for the like polarized scattering cross sections based on the two-scale model are in reasonably good agreement with the unified full wave solutions, the two solutions for the cross polarized cross sections differ very significantly.