Abstract
Radar backscatter from mesoscale breaking waves on the sea surface is considered. Breaking waves are shown to be responsible for sea spikes and high Doppler shift with horizontal polarization observed at low grazing angles. The backscatter cross sections for scattering from a single breaking wave are computed for both orthogonal polarizations. An estimate is obtained of the backscatter cross section averaged over the sea surface. It is shown that the main scattering mechanisms are specular backscatter from the steep front of the breaking wave, and backscatter enhancement due to double-bounce scattering from the wave itself and from the foot of the breaking wave. Horizontally polarized backscatter is shown to be considerably higher than vertically polarized backscatter when the angle of incidence is close to the Brewster angle.
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