Numerical studies of backscattering from time evolving sea surfaces: comparison of hydrodynamic models

Results from a Monte Carlo simulation of L-band backscattered Doppler spectra at 10 degrees grazing incidence obtained from one dimensional time evolving sea surface models are reported. A numerical method is used to calculate backscattered returns from surface profiles, which are initialized as realizations of a Pierson-Moskowitz spectrum at a windspeed of 2 m/s and then stepped in time through numerical hydrodynamic solutions. Results obtained from three distinct methods for time evolution of the surface profile are compared, and yield differing predictions of Doppler spectra for the case considered