Effects of air/sea conditions on azimuth modulations in Ku-band ocean radar backscatter

During the Surface Wave Dynamics Experiment (SWADE), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Scatterometer NUSCAT operating at Ku band was successfully used to acquire ocean backscatter data over a wide variety of atmospheric and oceanic conditions. Ten flights of data collection were conducted on the NASA Ames C130 aircraft, which resulted in 30 hours of data. The SWADE experimental area was deployed with several buoys providing appropriate in-situ data to correlate with the radar backscatter for incidence angles from 10° to 60° and both horizontal and vertical polarizations. The authors use the NUSCAT/SWADE backscatter data base in conjunction with buoy measurements to investigate backscatter azimuth modulations and compare the results under various physical conditions to airborne RADSCAT measurements and to predictions from SASS geophysical model functions