Sea-Surface Polarization Ratio From Envisat ASAR AP Data

The polarization ratio (VV/HH) of normalized radar cross section over ocean surface is processed from Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) alternating polarization (AP) data and compared with existing electromagnetic (EM) scattering models. The processing of the AP data is based on Level0 (raw data) product that enables us to accurately compute the contribution from additive noise separately from each burst. This is important in estimating the correct polarization ratio, particularly at higher incidence angles where the relative contribution from noise becomes severe. A recently published EM scattering model, general curvature method (GCM), is extended here to incorporate scattering from breaking waves. The performance of this model with and without breaking waves is compared with AP data and with other models for the polarization ratio. The extended GCM model is furthermore used to assess the performance of wind speed retrieval in HH polarization. The inclusion of wave breaking in the GCM model reduces the polarization ratio standard deviation from 0.64 to 0.50 and the bias from -0.34 to 0.16, as compared to the measured ASAR AP polarization ratio. The best semiempirical model from literature gives 0.51 and 0.63 for the standard deviation and bias, respectively. The difference in performance is shown to be caused by the wind speed dependence not accounted for in the semiempirical model. Validation of the new polarization ratio model in combination with C-band Model Function (CMOD) for wind speed retrieval at HH polarization shows similar performance as at VV polarization. We conclude that the GCM polarization ratio model incorporating wave-breaking effects is found to reproduce well polarization ratio measurements (ASAR AP) versus wind vector and incidence angle.