Third and fourth Stokes parameters in polarimetric passive microwave remote sensing of rough surfaces over layered media

Abstract

AbstractWe consider the four Stokes parameters in microwave emission from a layered medium with the top interface being a rough surface. The rough surface varies in one horizontal direction so that azimuthal asymmetry exists in the 3‐D problem. Dyadic Green's functions of multilayered media are used to formulate the surface integral equations. Periodic boundary conditions are used. The numerical results show that the presence of the layered media below the rough surface reduces the vertical and horizontal brightness temperatures. The interaction between the rough surface and the layered media also enhance the third and fourth Stokes parameters. In particular, the fourth Stokes parameter can be large for such geometrical configurations. Results show that the nonzero third and fourth Stokes parameters exist for all frequencies and are particularly large when the rough surface has large slope. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 3063–3069, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23892