Tower-based measurements of the ocean C band radar backscattering cross section

Abstract

Continuous measurements of the C band normalized radar cross section (NRCS) at vertical/vertical polarization as a function of wind speed and direction were carried out from a research platform in the North Sea. The NRCSs have been correlated with other environmental data routinely collected at the platform, like air-water temperature difference, water temperature, and ocean wave slope. The wind speed exponent of the C band NRCS at 45° incidence angle was determined as 1.50. For stable air-sea interfaces and low wind speeds the NRCS increases with increasing root-mean-square wave slope. -Authors