Electromagnetic wave scattering from ocean surface at low grazing angles

Bragg scattering is widely recognized as the dominant mechanism at moderate incident angles, by which the ocean surface backscatters microwave radiation. In this paper we have shown that the validity domain of the Bragg/composite surface theory can be extended to low grazing angles by taking into account the contribution of second order scattering effects into the first order at small scale. An improved two scale model (TSM) has been investigated at low grazing angles for (radar frequencies) L-, C- and Ku-band with wind speeds of 7 m/s and 15 m/s. It is observed that for higher wind speeds the intensity of ¿_HH increases up to 8 dB. In backscattering configuration predictions of the model are compared with the experimental data at Ku-band. Comparison shows good agreement at higher wind speeds. Finally, we use the improved TSM to predict the sea scattering in bistatic configuration and compare the results with classical TSM.