Model of the radiometric signal from the sea surface in the presence of currents

A consistent radiometric model of the ocean is important for interpretation of the passive microwave remote sensing data. Empirical relations between measured brightness temperature and environmental parameters such as wind, surface temperature, salinity, etc. are often used for processing of satellite and airborne data. That approach has some problems when a non-stationary environment is studied, such as variable in time and space wind or/and surface currents. In this case a consistent model based on physical parameters of the sea surface and atmosphere is needed. We consider a radiometric model of the ocean based on a wave action balance equation. We modified the source term to account for parasitic ripples. Along with surface roughness the model provides wave breaking statistics and foam coverage, which is especially important for microwave radiometry due to high foam emissivity. Comparison shows good agreement between model prediction and experimental observations