Radiophysical investigations of sea roughness (radiooceanography) at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences

Experiments on the scattering of radio waves in the range 200 m to 3 cm from a rough sea surface are described. Amplitude, frequency, and space-time characteristics of scattered radio signals at different states of the sea surface are presented. It is shown that the problem of the short and medium wave scattering from the sea can be solved by the perturbance method. In this case the mechanism of scattering is of "resonant" character. The intensity of the backscatter signals is proportional to the density of the spatial spectrum on the half-length of the radio waves. The high frequency radio wave scattering is well described by a two-scale model of the scattering surface, "ripple on the large wave." The intensity of scattered radio signals is also proportional to the spectrum density of "ripples" whose length is approximately equal to half a radio wave. The effect of the large waves is to modulate the amplitude of a scattered radio signal and to broaden its frequency spectrum. Methods of solution of the reverse problem were considered. This allowed determination of parameters of sea roughness by characteristics of scattered radio signals. The principles of design of the corresponding equipment are described.