Statistics of radar backscatter from wind waves

Measurements of wind wave scattering made by the Yscat ultra wide-band radar are used to study the statistics of the sea surface radar backscatter. As a comparison tool, a simple model based on composite Bragg scattering theory is developed and incorporated in a Monte Carlo simulation. The power and velocity distributions are computed from both empirical and simulated data. Comparison suggests that the composite scattering model accurately predicts the qualitative behavior of the radar return for incidence angles between 30° and 50° for both V and H polarization, but that other scattering mechanisms begin to influence the return at 20° and 60° incidence angles. While it has been postulated that additional scattering mechanisms (e.g. wave breaking and wedge scattering) may contribute to the total scattering, our results suggest that such scatterers do not significantly contribute to the total radar cross section for incidence angles between 30° and 50