Modeling the Polarization Ratio in the Upper Microwave Band for Sea Clutter Analysis

The two-scale model (TSM) based on Bragg tilting is widely employed to model the normalized radar cross section (NRCS) from the sea surface in the microwave bands. It also leads to the compound distribution model when used to represent the distribution of intensity in high-resolution sea clutter. While the TSM satisfactorily describes the dynamical behavior of the polarized NRCS at moderate incidence angles for various sea states and radar frequencies, it fails to consistently describe the polarized sea clutter distribution in the upper microwave band. The hidden reason is an overestimation of the Bragg polarization ratio (PR) at larger local incidence angles. Following the concept of universal analytical scattering models and based on the experimental evidence of two independent X-band airborne data sets, we propose a simple correction to the facet NRCS which brings the PR in closer agreement to the observations and makes it analytically very close to the popular Thompson empirical model. This amended model preserves the simple structure of Bragg scattering; it admits one single extra parameter which makes a dynamical transition between the asymptotic Bragg and Kirchhoff regime depending on the sea state and the radar frequency. This allows to correctly describe the angular variations of the PR in the upper microwave regime (C-, X-, and Ku-bands) with minimal a priori information regarding the sea surface. Once this correction is incorporated in the TSM, a consistent modeling of the polarized sea clutter statistics can be obtained with the compound distribution model.

Automated summary

The two-scale model based on Bragg tilting is widely used to model radar cross section from the sea surface, but it has difficulties in consistently describing the polarized sea clutter statistics in the upper microwave band. A simple correction proposed in this study brings the model in better agreement with observations, allowing for a more accurate description of polarized sea clutter statistics in the upper microwave regime.