Polarimetric thermal emission from rough ocean surfaces

Abstract

A numerical study of the polarimetric thermal emission from ocean surfaces randomly rough in one dimension using a Monte Carlo technique is presented. In this study, a set of finite length surface profiles with desired statistics was generated using a spectral method. Each surface was extended periodically to create an infinite rough surface, and the thermal emission was computed using the extended boundary condition method (EBC) and the method of moments (MOM). The results from the set of surfaces were then averaged to obtain the Monte Carlo estimate of polarimetric thermal emission. The surface statistics chosen were intended to model a wind perturbed ocean surface in the X to K_u band microwave region. The results of the study show that the third Stokes parameter, U_{B ,} is sensitive to the azimuthal angle between the surface periodicity and the looking angle, the rms height of the surface, and the surface power law spectrum slope, and that this parameter is insensitive to variations in polar angle, permittivity, and surface spectrum high frequency content.