INVESTIGATION OF LOW-GRAZING-ANGLE MICROWAVE BACKSCATTERING FROM THREEDIMENSIONAL BREAKING SEA WAVES

The microwave backscattering of the sea surface is investigated with the wedge-shaped breaking waves for the super events at low grazing angles (LGA). According to the relationship between the wave breaking and the whitecap, the finite three-dimensional wedges are utilized to approximately model the breaking waves, of which the spatial distribution is simulated with whitecap coverage. The phase-modified two-scale method (TSM) and method of equivalent currents (MEC) are used to calculate the surface and volume scattering of sea surface and breaking waves respectively. The sea spikes in LGA are observed by this model, and the strong directionality is caused by the breakers. Considering the Bragg phase velocity, orbital motion of facets and wind drift, the Doppler spectrum is simulated with the time series of sea clutter. Included the breaking waves, the scattering model indicates that the enhanced non-Bragg scattering leads to the extended Doppler spectrum width. The numerical results agree with the measured data well at LGA. Compared with the statistical models, the complex physical mechanism of the sea scattering is explicitly described in this paper.