Polarimetric characteristics of radar echoes from near shore wave fields at low grazing angles

This paper presents the results of polarimetric measurements of the near shore wave fields made in the low grazing angle regime. The variations in the distribution of the polarimetric entropy, anisotropy and mean scattering alpha of the radar echoes are examined in the H-A-α~ space to characterise the dominant scattering mechanisms for two situations; one where the incident wave field is almost monochromatic and the other where a broader spectrum of waves is present.