Rough Sea Surface Research Articles

An Improvement on SSA Method for EM Scattering From Electrically Large Rough Sea Surface

An improved facet model for the predication of the normalized radar cross section (NRCS) of electrically large rough sea surface was proposed based on the first-order small slope approximation (SSA-1) method, the Bragg scattering mechanism, and the specular scattering mechanism. The proposed method is able to evaluate both the complex reflective function and NRCS of electrically large sea surfaces from as low as ultrahigh frequency band to as high as Ka-band. The main idea is that a tilt sea facet can be regarded as the superposition of a planner facet and the microscopic profile; the latter is assumed to be a set of sinusoidal ripple patches. Thus, the integration kernel in SSA-1 over several small facets can be replaced by a large facet with a short wave modification. The efficiency increases because of the much larger mesh size than SSA. Then, both the backscattering and bistatic scattering NRCS results calculated by the proposed method were compared with those predicated by SSA-1, and all of the results show that the proposed method has the merits of high calculation efficiency as well as calculation accuracy.

Polarimetric Doppler spectrum of backscattered echoes from nonlinear sea surface damped by natural slicks

Based on the Lombardini et al. model that can predict the hydrodynamic damping of rough sea surfaces in the presence of monomolecular slicks and the “choppy wave” model (CWM) that can describe the nonlinear interactions between ocean waves, the modeling of time-varying nonlinear sea surfaces damped by natural or organic sea slicks is presented in this paper. The polarimetric scattering model of second-order small-slope approximation (SSA-II) with tapered wave incidence is utilized for evaluating co- and cross-polarized backscattered echoes from clean and contaminated CWM nonlinear sea surfaces. The influence of natural sea slicks on Doppler shift and spectral bandwidth of radar sea echoes is investigated in detail by comparing the polarimetric Doppler spectra of contaminated sea surfaces with those of clean sea surfaces. A narrowing of Doppler spectra in the presence of oil slicks is observed for both co- and cross-polarization, which is qualitatively consistent with wave-tank measurements. Simulation results also show that the Doppler shifts in slicks can increase or decrease, depending on incidence angles and polarizations.

Influence of sea surface roughness length parameterization on Mistral and Tramontane simulations

Abstract. The Mistral and Tramontane are mesoscale winds in southern France and above the Western Mediterranean Sea. They are phenomena well suited for studying channeling effects as well as atmosphere–land/ocean processes. This sensitivity study deals with the influence of the sea surface roughness length parameterizations on simulated Mistral and Tramontane wind speed and wind direction. Several simulations with the regional climate model COSMO-CLM were performed for the year 2005 with varying values for the Charnock parameter α. Above the western Mediterranean area, the simulated wind speed and wind direction pattern on Mistral days changes depending on the parameterization used. Higher values of α lead to lower simulated wind speeds. In areas, where the simulated wind speed does not change much, a counterclockwise rotation of the simulated wind direction is observed.

Ament Model for Multiple Rebounds From Rough Sea Surfaces in a Stratified Medium and Validation From the MoM-Based Multilevel SDIM

In this paper, the well-known Ament model is generalized to multiple rebounds (reflections) from rough sea surfaces in a stratified medium. To solve this propagation-scattering problem in the radar microwave domain, the physical optics (PO) approximation is applied to determine the currents on the rough sea surface. Next, to solve the propagation problem, i.e., to calculate the scattered field in the duct, an appropriate Green function of the duct (which is a stratified medium with linear-square refraction index profile) is used to radiate the currents from Huygens’ principle. Due to refraction phenomenon, this field induces new currents on the surface (second rebound), which are again evaluated by PO. The process is iterated. Then, for each rebound, the coherent components of the surface currents and the scattered field are calculated and compared with those of a flat surface in order to derive the generalized Ament model. In addition, this model is compared with the results computed by the rigorous method of moments and accelerated by the multilevel subdomain decomposition iterative method combined with the adaptive cross approximation.

A Detailed Comparison Between a Small-Slope Model of Acoustical Scattering From a Rough Sea Surface and Stochastic Modeling of the Coherent Surface Loss

The accurate modeling of underwater acoustical reflection from a wind-roughened ocean surface is a challenging problem. Some complicating factors are the presence of near-surface bubbles and the potential for shadowing of acoustical energy by parts of the surface itself. One essential factor, which is the subject of this paper, is the specular reflection of coherent plane waves at an ocean-like rough surface. We tested the accuracy of one rough surface reflection model, the small-slope approximation (SSA) approach as used by Williams (J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., vol. 116, no. 4, pp. 1975-1984, Oct. 2004), for scenarios for which scattering was entirely in the vertical plane. The SSA model was used to compute values of the coherent plane wave reflection loss per bounce for wind speeds between 5 and 12.5 m/s, frequencies between 1.5 and 9 kHz, and grazing angles between about 1 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">°</sup> and 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">°</sup> . These values were compared to those obtained from a Monte Carlo approach based on the parabolic equation (PE) method, where realistic ocean surfaces were generated based on the Pierson-Moskowitz spectrum for ocean surface heights. The SSA model compared favorably with the more rigorous PE method for most of the range of parameters considered. An approximation to the SSA model was derived for application to grazing angles less than particular values, and this approximation was shown to compare well with results from PE modeling.

A Unique Satellite-Based Sea Surface Wind Speed Algorithm and Its Application in Tropical Cyclone Intensity Analysis

AbstractThis study proposes a sea surface wind speed retrieval algorithm (the Hong wind speed algorithm) for use in rainy and rain-free conditions. It uses a combination of satellite-observed microwave brightness temperatures, sea surface temperatures, and horizontally polarized surface reflectivities from the fast Radiative Transfer for TOVS (RTTOV), and surface and atmospheric profiles from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Regression relationships between satellite-observed brightness temperature and satellite-simulated brightness temperatures, satellite-simulated brightness temperatures, rough surface reflectivities, and between sea surface roughness and sea surface wind speed are derived from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR-2). Validation results of sea surface wind speed between the proposed algorithm and the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) data show that the estimated bias and RMSE for AMSR-2 6.925- and 10.65-GHz bands are 0.09 and 1.13 m s−1, and −0.52 and 1.21 m s−1, respectively. Typhoon intensities such as the current intensity (CI) number, maximum wind speed, and minimum pressure level based on the proposed technique (the Hong technique) are compared with best-track data from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), and the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMSS) for 13 typhoons that occurred in the northeastern Pacific Ocean throughout 2012. Although the results show good agreement for low- and medium-range typhoon intensities, the discrepancy increases with typhoon intensity. Consequently, this study provides a useful retrieval algorithm for estimating sea surface wind speed, even during rainy conditions, and for analyzing characteristics of tropical cyclones.

Frequency-selective fading statistics of shallow-water acoustic communication channel with a few multipaths

The bit error rate of an underwater acoustic communication system is related to multipath fading statistics, which determine the signal-to-noise ratio. The amplitude and delay of each path depend on sea surface roughness, propagation medium properties, and source-to-receiver range as a function of frequency. Therefore, received signals will show frequency-dependent fading. A shallow-water acoustic communication channel generally shows a few strong multipaths that interfere with each other and the resulting interference affects the fading statistics model. In this study, frequency-selective fading statistics are modeled on the basis of the phasor representation of the complex path amplitude. The fading statistics distribution is parameterized by the frequency-dependent constructive or destructive interference of multipaths. At a 16 m depth with a muddy bottom, a wave height of 0.2 m, and source-to-receiver ranges of 100 and 400 m, fading statistics tend to show a Rayleigh distribution at a destructive interference frequency, but a Rice distribution at a constructive interference frequency. The theoretical fading statistics well matched the experimental ones.

Multipath Channel Model for Radio Propagation over Sea Surface

When radio signal propagates over the sea, the reflection of sea surface and the scattering of sea waves result in multipath components of the transmitted signal at the receiver. This paper introduces an analytical approach for developing multipath channel model for maritime wireless communications over sea. The presented modeling approach can establish the channel impulse response consisting of specular multipath and diffuse multipath produced by smooth sea surface and rough sea surface, respectively. Specifically, the diffuse multipath is obtained by accumulating diffuse scattering energy from the glistening surface. The methods for deriving specular multipath and diffuse multipath are given in detail. Finally, the numerical results of multipath channel models under different transmission conditions are obtained and analyzed using the introduced channel modeling approach.

Extracting hurricane eye morphology from spaceborne SAR images using morphological analysis

Hurricanes are among the most destructive global natural disasters. Thus recognizing and extracting their morphology is important for understanding their dynamics. Conventional optical sensors, due to cloud cover associated with hurricanes, cannot reveal the intense air–sea interaction occurring at the sea surface. In contrast, the unique capabilities of spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data for cloud penetration, and its backscattering signal characteristics enable the extraction of the sea surface roughness. Therefore, SAR images enable the measurement of the size and shape of hurricane eyes, which reveal their evolution and strength. In this study, using six SAR hurricane images, we have developed a mathematical morphology method for automatically extracting the hurricane eyes from C-band SAR data. Skeleton pruning based on discrete skeleton evolution (DSE) was used to ensure global and local preservation of the hurricane eye shape. This distance weighted algorithm applied in a hierarchical structure for extraction of the edges of the hurricane eyes, can effectively avoid segmentation errors by reducing redundant skeletons attributed to speckle noise along the edges of the hurricane eye. As a consequence, the skeleton pruning has been accomplished without deficiencies in the key hurricane eye skeletons. A morphology-based analyses of the subsequent reconstructions of the hurricane eyes shows a high degree of agreement with the hurricane eye areas derived from reference data based on NOAA manual work.

Scattering From Contaminated Rough Sea Surface by Iterative Physical Optics Model

This letter focuses on scattering from rough sea surface covered by insoluble oil. Oil film damps the capillary wave of the rough sea surface, which leads to a smooth profile of the contaminated sea. We investigate this phenomenon using a highly efficient iterative model based on physical optics (PO) and Huygens' equivalence principle. PO is used to calculate the scattering from the oil film and underlying rough sea surface. The Huygens equivalence principle and iterative strategy are employed to evaluate the coupled scattering between the oil film and rough sea surface. The scattering of contaminated rough sea surface based on the iterative model is compared with those using the method of moments as well as computational time and memory requirements. Then, the influence of some important parameters, such as wind speed, oil thickness, incident wave frequency, and oil coverage, on scattering is investigated and discussed in detail.

Coupled acoustic mode equations in the ocean waveguide with rough sea surface and elastic bottom

Sound wave scattering caused by rough surfaces has been the subject of investigation for many decades. The problem has no exact analytic solution and approximate approaches are needed. In the ocean, scattering of sound by perturbed ocean boundaries couples acoustic modes and increases attenuation. In this paper, approximate coupled mode equations are analyzed using a small perturbation approach. The analytic solution connecting mode shapes with coupling mode coefficients has been derived. It is shown that the coupled mode matrix can be approximated by a linear function of one parameter, which is the perturbation of the sea surface. The equations are applied for one-direction sound propagation with a rough sea surface. For this one parameter model, the coupled mode differential equation has an easy solution in the form of a matrix exponent and can be useful for many applications. The proposed method can be easily extended to the case where modes are coupling by uneven bottom topography including elastic properties for compressional and shear waves.

Modeling the underwater light field fluctuations in coastal oceanic waters: Validation with experimental data

Modeling of the wave-induced underwater light fluctuations at near-surface depths in coastal oceanic waters is challenging because of the surface roughness and strong anisotropic effects of the light field. In the present work, a simple and computationally efficient radiative transfer model is used for the wind-driven sea surface for simulating underwater light fields such as downwelling irradiance (E d ), upwelling irradiance (E u ), and upwelling radiance (L u ) in a spatial domain. It is an extension of our previous work that essentially combines the air–sea interface of the wind-driven sea surface with transmittance and reflectance along with the diffuse and direct components of the homogenous and inhomogeneous water column. The present model simulates underwater light fields for any possible values of absorption and backscattering coefficients. To assess the performance of the model, the E d , E u , and L u profiles predicted by the model are compared with experimental data from relatively clear and turbid coastal waters. Statistical results show significantly low mean relative differences regardless of the wavelength. Comparison of the simulated and in-situ time series data measured over rough sea surfaces demonstrates that model-observation agreement is good for the present model. The Hydrolight model when implemented with the modified bottom reflectance and phase function provides significantly better results than the original Hydrolight model without consideration of the bottom slope and vertically varying phase function. However, these results are non-spatial and have errors fluctuating at different wavelengths. To further demonstrate the efficiency of the present model, spatial distribution patterns of the underwater light fields are simulated based on the measured data from a coastal station for different solar zenith angles (under sunny condition). Simulated wave-induced fluctuations of the underwater lights fields show a good consistency with in-situ data for a few near-surface depths. The present model also provides a reasonable approximation for simulating wave-induced effects on the downward irradiance field and its anisotropic conditions caused by the surface roughness, wavelength and angle of incidence.

Electromagnetic scattering and Doppler spectrum simulation of time-varying oil-covered nonlinear sea surface

Based on the model of Lombardini et al. [J. Atmos. Ocean. Technol.6(6), 882–890 (1989)], which can predict the hydrodynamic damping of rough sea surfaces in the presence of oil films, the influence of sea slicks on the sea surface roughness spectrum and sea surface geometrical structure is examined briefly in the present study. On this basis, the influence of sea slicks on the angular distribution of the bistatic scattering coefficient of sea surfaces and the Doppler spectrum signature of backscattered radar sea-echo is investigated in detail based on a frequency-domain numerical method of the parallel fast multiple method. Simulation results show that Doppler spectrum signatures including Doppler shift and spectral bandwidth of radar sea-echo are significantly affected by sea slicks, which are qualitatively consistent with wave-tank or open sea measurements. Moreover, simulation results indicate that the Doppler spectrum signature is a promising technique for remote sensing of oil films floating on sea surfaces.

Analysis of Satellite-Based Navigation Signal Reflectometry: Simulations and Observations

A new wave propagator that can be used to simulate global navigation satellite systems reflected signals from ocean surfaces is presented. The wave propagator simulates the characteristics of a bistatic scattering system. Simulated GPS ocean surface reflections will be presented and discussed based on different ocean characteristics. The spectra of the simulated surface reflections are analyzed, and the results from the simulations are compared to measured GPS surface reflections. The measurements were performed using a space-qualified GPS receiver placed on a mountain at the Haleakala observatory on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The GPS receiver was during the experiments running in an open-loop configuration. The analysis of both the simulated surface-reflection signals and the measured reflection signals will in general reveal spectral structures of the reflected signals that can lead to extraction of sea surface roughness, surface wind speed, and direction.

Late-summer sea ice segmentation with multi-polarisation SAR features in C and X band

Abstract. In this study, we investigate the potential of sea ice segmentation by C- and X-band multi-polarisation synthetic aperture radar (SAR) features during late summer. Five high-resolution satellite SAR scenes were recorded in the Fram Strait covering iceberg-fast first-year and old sea ice during a week with air temperatures varying around 0 °C. Sea ice thickness, surface roughness and aerial photographs were collected during a helicopter flight at the site. Six polarimetric SAR features were extracted for each of the scenes. The ability of the individual SAR features to discriminate between sea ice types and their temporal consistency were examined. All SAR features were found to add value to sea ice type discrimination. Relative kurtosis, geometric brightness, cross-polarisation ratio and co-polarisation correlation angle were found to be temporally consistent in the investigated period, while co-polarisation ratio and co-polarisation correlation magnitude were found to be temporally inconsistent. An automatic feature-based segmentation algorithm was tested both for a full SAR feature set and for a reduced SAR feature set limited to temporally consistent features. In C band, the algorithm produced a good late-summer sea ice segmentation, separating the scenes into segments that could be associated with different sea ice types in the next step. The X-band performance was slightly poorer. Excluding temporally inconsistent SAR features improved the segmentation in one of the X-band scenes.

Radiative transfer simulations of the two-dimensional ocean glint reflectance and determination of the sea surface roughness.

An optimized discrete-ordinate radiative transfer model (DISORT3) with a pseudo-two-dimensional bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) is used to simulate and validate ocean glint reflectances at an infrared wavelength (1036 nm) by matching model results with a complete set of BRDF measurements obtained from the NASA cloud absorption radiometer (CAR) deployed on an aircraft. The surface roughness is then obtained through a retrieval algorithm and is used to extend the simulation into the visible spectral range where diffuse reflectance becomes important. In general, the simulated reflectances and surface roughness information are in good agreement with the measurements, and the diffuse reflectance in the visible, ignored in current glint algorithms, is shown to be important. The successful implementation of this new treatment of ocean glint reflectance and surface roughness in DISORT3 will help improve glint correction algorithms in current and future ocean color remote sensing applications.

A fully coupled atmosphere–ocean wave modeling system for the Mediterranean Sea: interactions and sensitivity to the resolved scales and mechanisms

Abstract. It is commonly accepted that there is a need for a better understanding of the factors that contribute to air–sea interactions and their feedbacks. In this context it is important to develop advanced numerical prediction systems that treat the atmosphere and the ocean as a unified system. The realistic description and understanding of the exchange processes near the ocean surface requires knowledge of the sea state and its evolution. This can be achieved by considering the sea surface and the atmosphere as a continuously cross-talking dynamic system. Following and adapting concepts already developed and implemented in large-scale numerical weather models and in hurricane simulations, this study aims to present the effort towards developing a new, high-resolution, two-way fully coupled atmosphere–ocean wave model in order to support both operational and research activities. A specific issue that is emphasized is the determination and parameterization of the air–sea momentum fluxes in conditions of extremely high and time-varying winds. Software considerations, data exchange as well as computational and scientific performance of the coupled system, the so-called WEW (worketa-wam), are also discussed. In a case study of a high-impact weather and sea-state event, the wind–wave parameterization scheme reduces the resulted wind speed and the significant wave height as a response to the increased aerodynamic drag over rough sea surfaces. Overall, WEW offers a more realistic representation of the momentum exchanges in the ocean wind–wave system and includes the effects of the resolved wave spectrum on the drag coefficient and its feedback on the momentum flux.

The Influence of wave state and sea spray on drag coefficient from low to high wind speeds

Ocean waves alter the roughness of sea surface, and sea spray droplets redistribute the momentum flux at the air-sea interface. Hence, both wave state and sea spray influence sea surface drag coefficient. Based on the new sea spray generation function which depends on sea surface wave, a wave-dependent sea spray stress is obtained. According to the relationship between sea spray stress and the total wind stress on the sea surface, a new formula of drag coefficient at high wind speed is acquired. With the analysis of the new drag coefficient, it is shown that the drag coefficient reduces at high wind speed, indicating that the sea spray droplets can limit the increase of drag coefficient. However, the value of high wind speed corresponding to the initial reduced drag coefficient is not fixed, and it depends on the wave state, which means the influence of wave cannot be ignored. Comparisons between the theoretical and measured sea surface drag coefficients in field and laboratory show that under different wave ages, the theoretical result of drag coefficient could include the measured data, and it means that the new drag coefficient can be used properly from low to high wind speeds under any wave state condition.

Modeling of Gaussian laser beam reflection from rough sea surface

Studies on the direction distribution of laser beam intensity reflected from the sea surface is important for engineering practice in the area of optoelectronic confrontation on the sea surface. In the traditional theory of electromagnetic scattering from rough surfaces, the scattered field from the sea surface can be obtained by solving the Maxwell's equations. As is well known, it is difficult to solve the Maxwell's equations. Therefore, the numerical calculation method and approximate analytical method are used to obtain the scattered field from the sea surface. However, for the numerical calculation method, it is difficult to meet the computing requirements of large electrically targets such as the sea surface. Meanwhile the approximate analytical method has certain restrictions on the parameters of rough surface in physical approximation. What is more, the inherent error is also caused by the physical approximation. In this paper, we investigate the laser beam reflection from rough sea surface with Monte Carlo method and principles of geometric optics. The rough sea surface which is simulated with the fractal method is divided into a lot of small planes, and the mathematical equations to describe the geometric characteristics of the planes are established in the sea reference coordinate system. After that, based on the simulation of Gaussian beam with Monte Carlo method, the laser beam is divided into a great number of rays and the statistical properties of the rays satisfy the propagation characteristics of Gaussian beam. Then, the laser beam reflection model from the sea surface is derived in the reference coordinate system. The direction distribution of the laser beam intensity reflected from the sea surface is simulated under a certain experiment condition with this model. The results show that the simulation results of laser beam reflection from the sea surface fit the experimental results well.

Polarimetric Scattering from Two-Dimensional Dielectric Rough Sea Surface with a Ship-Induced Kelvin Wake

Based on the polarimetric scattering model of second-order small-slope approximation (SSA-II) with tapered wave incidence for reducing the edge effect caused by limited surface size, monostatic and bistatic polarimetric scattering signatures of two-dimensional dielectric rough sea surface with a ship-induced Kelvin wake is investigated in detail by comparison with those of sea surface without ship wake. The emphasis of this paper is on an investigation of depolarized scattering and enhanced backscattering of sea surface with a ship wake that changes the sea surface geometric structure especially for low wind conditions. Numerical simulations show that in the plane of incidence rough sea surface scattering is dominated by copolarized scattering rather than cross-polarized scattering and that under low wind conditions a larger ship speed gives rise to stronger enhanced backscattering and enhanced depolarized scattering. For both monostatic and bistatic configuration, simulation results indicate that electromagnetic scattering signatures in the presence of a ship wake dramatically differ from those without ship wake, which may serve as a basis for the detection of ships in marine environment.