Modeling the SAR backscatter of linear dunes on Earth and Titan

We modeled the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) response of linear dunes of the Great Sand Sea in Egypt using a single surface scattering term, based on Integral Equation and Physical Optics Models. Using multi-frequency SIR-C/X-SAR radar scenes and topography obtained from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), we were able to estimate reasonable values for the parameters describing the surface roughness of the dunes. As the linear dunes of the Great Sand Sea are relevant analogs for the linear dunes observed on Titan by the Cassini Radar instrument, these results were thus used as a starting point to simulate the radar response of Titan’s dunes, as imaged by the Radar instrument onboard the Cassini spacecraft during the T8 flyby in October 2005. We show that a single surface scattering term is not sufficient to simulate the radar signal backscattered by the dunes on Titan: one has to add a diffuse scattering term, indicating that Titan’s dunes are likely to have somewhat inhomogeneous internal structures related to porosity and/or internal layering. Our results also indicate that the dunes on Titan should be close to perfectly smooth, possibly because of the formation of smaller ripples than on Earth, plus smoothing resulting from precipitation events.