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Electromagnetic Scattering from the Sea at Low Grazing Angles

  • Chapter
Surface Waves and Fluxes

Part of the book series: Environmental Fluid Mechanics ((EFME,volume 8))

Abstract

Radars operating from ships, shore installations, and low-flying aircraft inevitably view the sea at low grazing angles from zero to a few degrees. Under these conditions it is expected that the surface might often be deeply shadowed, yet the experimental evidence is unclear, sometimes even contradictory. It is obvious that this is a very special scattering regime, in which the conventional ideas of sea scatter are quite possibly of little use. Any approach to understanding this regime must be guided by two basic questions:

  1. 1.

    In the most general case of bistatic scattering, how much, and what part of the sea surface is actually illuminated and observed simultaneously in a scattering interaction?

  2. 2.

    What are the special structural characteristics of the scattering elements in such regions, and what theoretical models are to be used.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, 20375, USA

    Lewis B. Wetzel

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  1. Lewis B. Wetzel
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Space Systems and Technology Department, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington D.C., USA

    G. L. Geernaert

  2. Ocean Engineering Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts, USA

    W. L. Plant

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© 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Wetzel, L.B. (1990). Electromagnetic Scattering from the Sea at Low Grazing Angles. In: Geernaert, G.L., Plant, W.L. (eds) Surface Waves and Fluxes. Environmental Fluid Mechanics, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0627-3_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0627-3_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6769-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-0627-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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