Millimeter wave propagation above the sea surface during the Squirrel campaign

This contribution reports about experimental activities during the 2011 Squirrel campaign in the Baltic Sea, where a number of in- and outbound runs of the Mittelgrund research vessel were measured by the Fraunhofer FHR MEMPHIS Radar in sea configuration at both Ka and W band. Aboard the employed vessel, four corner-reflectors (CR) at different heights in forward and backward direction where mounted in order to measure the signature of the CRs along the inbound- and outbound trajectories. The parabolic wave equation modeling software TERPEM was used to model the propagation factor and to compare the measurements against the modeling. The characterization of the oceanographic and meteorological input parameters for the modeling was performed by a large number of sensors operated by the WTD 71. The present contribution provides additional evidence of previously observed propagation phenomena under different operating frequencies. The qualitative behavior of the experimental data was confirmed by established modeling and fits quite well at the location of the performed campaign.