Abstract
Space-borne scatterometers are the main tools to retrieve wind vector over global oceans. However, wave breaking under high-wind condition has strong effects on scatterometer. In this paper, the effects of wave breaking on scatterometer normalized radar cross section (NRCS) were analyzed using a semi-empirical model. The results show that the wave breaking contributions are significant at moderate incidence angles, especially for HH polarization, which follows a rapid grow at large incidence angles. The dependence of the contribution on wind speed indicates that the wave breaking plays a more significant role under high-wind conditions. The scatterometers are more susceptible to wave breaking at high frequency than at low frequency.
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