High resolution polarimetric radar scattering measurements of low grazing angle sea clutter

This paper presents fully polarimetric radar scattering measurements of low grazing angle sea clutter. The measurements were obtained at a three degree grazing angle using a high range resolution (1.5 m) X-Band polarimetric radar operated from a shore site overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. The radar employs pulse-to-pulse switching between orthogonal transmitted polarizations and simultaneously measures two orthogonally polarized components of the backscattered wave to obtain full polarimetric information about the scattering process. The complete Stokes matrix, computed by averaging successive realizations of the polarization scattering matrix, is used to obtain polarization signatures and to determine the polarization dependence of the clutter. Sea spike echoes are shown to be weakly polarized and to exhibit polarization signatures indicative of multiple independent scattering mechanisms. Clutter echoes in the absence of sea spikes are shown to be highly polarized and to exhibit polarization signatures indicative of a single dominant scattering mechanism