Transient response of a corrugated surface

A calculation is presented for the signal scattered by a corrugated surface due to a point source above the surface which transmits a short pulse of high frequency radiation. The analysis is based on the physical optics approximation. This problem is pertainent, although in a much simplified context, to problems of radar sensing of undulating surfaces, such as a swell dominated sea. In particular, this analysis leads to a definition of the criteria applicable to the use of a short pulse radar to sense the dominate wave structure of a sea.