New Features of Bragg and Non-Polarized Radar Backscattering from Film Slicks on the Sea Surface

Suppression of radar backscattering from the sea surface has been studied in field experiments with surfactant films carried out from an Oceanographic Platform on the Black Sea and from onboard a research vessel on the Gorky Water Reservoir using an X-C-S-band two co-polarized radar instrument. Brag...

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Published inJournal of marine science and engineering Vol. 10; no. 9; p. 1262
Main Authors Ermakov, Stanislav Aleksandrovich, Sergievskaya, Irina Andreevna, Plotnikov, Leonid Mikhailovich, Kapustin, Ivan Aleksandrovich, Danilicheva, Olga Arkadyevna, Kupaev, Alexander Viktorovich, Molkov, Alexander Andreevich
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2022
Subjects
Azimuth
Backscatter
Backscattering
Bragg and non-Bragg radar return
Crosswinds
Dependence
Doppler shifts
Experiments
Field tests
film slicks
Horizontal polarization
microwave radar backscattering
Microwave scattering
Radar
Research vessels
Scale models
Sea surface
Slicks
Water reservoirs
Wave number
Wave spectra
Wavelengths
Wind
Wind waves
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Summary:Suppression of radar backscattering from the sea surface has been studied in field experiments with surfactant films carried out from an Oceanographic Platform on the Black Sea and from onboard a research vessel on the Gorky Water Reservoir using an X-C-S-band two co-polarized radar instrument. Bragg and non-polarized (non-Bragg) radar backscatter components, BC and NBC, respectively, were retrieved when measuring the radar backscatter at vertical (VV-) and horizontal (HH-) polarizations. New features of microwave backscattering from the sea surface have been revealed, including a non-monotonic dependence of radar backscatter suppression (contrasts) in slicks on azimuth angle and particularities of BC contrasts on radar wave number. Namely, it is demonstrated that the backscatter contrasts achieve maximum values at azimuth angles in between the upwind and crosswind radar look directions, and BC contrasts increase with radar wave number along the wind and decrease in the crosswind directions. The suppression of BC is discussed in the frame of Bragg’s theory of microwave scattering and of a simple model of the wind wave spectrum, while the suppression of NBC is considered associated with the micro-breaking of wind waves. The obtained new features of radar contrasts can be used for the identification and characterization of marine films.
ISSN:2077-1312
2077-1312
DOI:10.3390/jmse10091262