REMOTE SENSING OF SEA STATE BY RADAR

Donald E. Barrickx
Electromagnetics Division
B a t t e l l e , Columbus Laboratories
Columbus, Ohio
43201
Abstract
Inrecentyearsseveralradartechniques
have
evolvedwhichallowtheremote
measurement of
certain parameters important in the descript i o n of s e a s t a t e .
A t MF and HF, monostatic
and b i s t a t i c c o n f i g u r a t i o n s employing s a t e l l i t e s ,s h i p s ,i s l a n d s ,a n d / o rl a n d
based
s t a t i o n s canmeasure the oceanwaveheight
spectrum with several frequencies via firstorder Bragg s c a t t e r . A t high HF and VHF, t h e
ocean waveheight spectrum can
b e estimated a t
a single carrier frequency via secord-order
mechanisms; t h i st e c h n i q u e i s e s p e c i a l l y
s u i t e d t o remote sensing via long distance
ionosphericpropagation.
A t UHF, i t i s poss i b l e t o measure theslopespectrum
of t h e
longerocean waves v i a c r o s s - c o r r e l a t i o n of
simultaneousBragg-effectreturns
a t two
frequencies. The short-pulse microwave
satellite altimeter permits
a d i r e c t measurement of the significant waveheight
of t h e s e a
atthesuborbitalpointviathespecular
point mechanism.Such
techniques w i l l be i m portant both for detailed oceanographic study
of ocean wave c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s and f o r r o u t i n e
monitoring of s e a s t a t e f o r m a r i t i m e / m e t e o r o logicalpurposes.
Introduction
Thispaperexaminesseveralradarconcepts
f o rr e m o t e l ys e n s i n gs e as t a t e .
"Remote"
asappliedtotheconceptscan
mean a s
c l o s e a s 10-20 nmi; otherconcepts--if
implemented--couldmeasure
s e a s t a t e from
a land-based s i t e a s f a r away as 2000 nmi.
S a t e l l i t e and airborne sensor techniques
a r ea l s oi n c l u d e d .R a t h e rt h a np r e s e n t i n g
detailedtheoreticalderivations
of e l e c t r o magnetic wave s c a t t e r from t h e rough s e a ,
an attempt i s made h e r e t o d i s c u s s o n l y
those remote sensing concepts for which a
clear physical understanding
is a v a i l a b l e .
Only when t h e i n t e r a c t i o n mechanism i s
understood to the point that an important
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of s e a s t a t e r e l a t e s c l e a r l y
and d i r e c t l y t o a simple radar observable
5~

After August, the author

w i l l be affiliated
w i t h t h e Wave Propagation Laboratory, Environment Research Laboratories of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder,
Colorado 80302.

186-OCEAN '72

can one reasonably expect success as

a remote sensingconcept.Rarely
do mathematical
manipulations lead to any significant
remote sensingdiscovery.After
a conc e p t i s uncoveredand
theexpectedphysical
mechanism i d e n t i f i e d , m a t h e m a t i c a l a n a l y s i s
can provide a v a l u a b l e q u a n t i t a t i v e b a s i s
f o r f u r t h e r developmentanddesignofthe
technique.Experimentalverification
i s of
course ultimately necessary to demonstrate
f e a s i b i l i t y and accuracy.
Four interaction concepts for remotely
s e n s i n gs e as t a t ea r es u g g e s t e dh e r e :
(1) F i r s t - o r d e r Bragg s c a t t e r a t MF/HP;
( 2 ) Second-orderBragg s c a t t e r a t HF/VHF;
(3) Two-frequency c o r r e l a t i o n a t UHF;
( 4 ) Short-pulsealtimetry a t X-band. Of
thefourconcepts,
(1) and ( 4 ) -havebeen
analyzed in detail theoretically
and v e r i fied in several configurations experimentally.
Concept ( 2 ) has been partially analyzed
t h e o r e t i c a l l y , and t e s t s a r e j u s t b e i n g
initiatedtoprovideexperimentalverification.
Only p a r t i a l t h e o r e t i c a l a n a l y s i s i s p r e s e n t l y
availabletosupportconcept(3).
A l l four
w i l l be briefly discussed in the following
sections.Ratherthandetailedmathematical
derivations,theprincipalequation
which
q u a n t i t a t i v e l yd e s c r i b e st h es c a t t e rc o n c e p t
w i l l begivenandexplained.
When experim e n t a l v e r i f i c a t i o n is a v a i l a b l e , i t w i l l be
presented.
The "radarrangeequation"describesthe
power receivedinterms
of t r a n s m i t t e d
power, PT, wavelength, h , ranges from
t r a n s m i t t e rt ot a r g e t( R T )
and t a r g e t t o
r e c e i v e r (RR),andantennagains.
When
t h e t a r g e t i s a patchofsea
of a r e a d A ,
the average radar cross section describing
s c a t t e r i s o = u dA, where 0 0 is t h e
averageradarcrosssectionperunitarea
(dimensionless)forthesea.Thisequation
then becomes

whereFZrepresents
all l o s s e sg r e a t e rt h a n
thefree-spacespreading
loss ( e . g . ,s u r f a c e wave losses,ionosphericabsorption,attenuat i o nt h r o u g hr a i n ,e t c . ) .F o rl o s s l e s s
transmission, F C
1. Forsurface-wave
or
GT and GR a r e d e f i n e d
l i n e - o f - s i g h tr a d a r s ,
-f

h e r e t d be t h e e q u i v a l e n t t r e e s s p a c e g a i n s .
oftheantennas
i n t h e d i r e c t i o n ofthe
s c a t t e r i n gp a t c n .
Forionosphericover-thehorizonpropagation,thesegainsareas
measured in the presence of the
ground ( i . e . ,
about 6 dB higher than free-space gains.)
It is e s s e n t i a l t h a t t h e t e r m " s e a s t a t e " b e
defined at this point
andthesignificant
observable parameters describing
it be discussed. Sea s t a t e i n a p r a c t i c a ls e n s er e f e r s
t o t h e h e i g h t ofthe waves o r roughnesspresent
on thesurfaceoftheocean.Significant
Waveheight (Hv~)is the maritime d e s c r i p t o r g i v i n g
theheight(peak-to-trough)
of the highest 113
ofthewaves;
it is r o u g h l y r e l a t e d t o t h e
rms
waveheight,h, by H1/3 2.83 h. A s winds d r i v e
t h e seas h'igher,they i n essenceincreasethe
heights of l o n g e r , f a s t e r mbving waves; t h e
s h o r t e r waves a r e f u l l y developed t o t h e i r
maximum h e i g h t s . A deep-water wave of length
L travels a t velocity v =
where
g = 9.81 ms-2 i s t h e a c c e l e r a t i o n of g r a v i t y .
These wind-driven waves w i l l move predominantly
withthewinds.
The length of t h el o n g e s t
ocean wave which t h e wind c a n e x c i t e is one
whosephase v e l o c i t y , v , j u s t
matchesthewind
speed,u.
Thus thecrudest--butperhapsmost
important--descriptor of sea state
i s waveheight (HI, o r h ) . When t h e sea i s f u l l y
developed
the winds, a rough estimate of
h i n terms of wind speed,u,
i s h = .016ua m,
where u i s i n m / s . A more q u a n t i t a t i v e
measure i s theoceanwaveheightspectrum,
S(X), where n = 2n/L is t h e s p a t i a l wavenumber. The most detailedfunctiondescribing the strengths of ocean
waves moving
i n a n y d i r e c t i o n , 8, i s t h e d i r e c t i o n a l
spectrum S(+,
9 ) = S ( X cos 9, u s i n e).
See Kinsman [ 11 o r B a r r i c k [ 23 f o r a d i s cussion of ocean wave c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s .

s,

MF/HF Bragg S c a t t e r
Nearly two decadesago, Crombie [ 3 ] experimentally discovered the
mechanism giving
rise to radar sea scatter
a t HF byobserving
the Doppler spectrum of his received signal.
It consisted almost entirely of
two d i s c r e t e
l i n e s s h i f t e d aboveand below t h e c a r r i e r
Hz. For h i s
( f o = c/h) by a n amount
ground-wave backscatter configuration, these
Doppler s h i f t s were s e e n t o b e produced by
ocean waves whose lengths were one-half the
.'adiowavelength (L = h/2) moving toward and
away from t h er a d a r .
Thus the mechanism he
deduced is Bragg s c a t t e r . Of a l l t h e ocean
waves present,theonlyonesseenbytheradar
a r e t h o s e forming a d i f f r a c t i o n g r a t i n g w i t h
half-wavelength spacing, because in this case
t h e r e t u r n s from each wave c r e s t w i l l r e i n f o r c e
c o h e r e n t l yi nt h eb a c k s c a t t e rd i r e c t i o n .L a t e r
t h e o r e t i c a l a n a l y s e s [ 4,5] confirmed the
c o r r e c t n e s s of Crombie'sdeductions;
Barrick [ 5 ] showed t h a t t h e magnitude of
the average scattered signal spectrum,
a(w), andnormalized c r o s s s e c t i o n
u o .(ao = [Eo (w)dw) f o r ground-wave
.

d
m
'

backscatter with vertical polarization

is*

where
= 2n/X and S ( s , 3, w)/S(%,
5)
are t h e d i r e c t i o n a l spatial-temporal/spatial
s p e c t r a of theoceanwaveheight,normalized
such that,

The above equation shows Bragg s c a t t e r t o

e x p l a i n t h e i n t e r a c t i o n mechanism, s i n c e t h e
ocean wavenumber, It, which i s beingobserved
i s 2 % (i.e., L = h / 2 ) . The s t r e n g t h of t h e
s i g n a l depends upon the height of the
waves
i n t h e s p e c t r u m a t t h i s wavenumber. For a
Phillipsspectrum model ( i . e . , S ( u ) = .005/
( 2 n 1 t ~ )f o r f u l l y developedwaves),thisgives
rise t o u o = 0.02 and u(w) = 0.04 $(w
w0 i
2 n m ) f o rf i r s t - o r d e r waves. The impulse
functions equally spaced about the carrier
explain the discrete Doppler shifts observed
experimentally. The value u o = .02 = -17 dB
i s in quantitative agreement with experimental
o b s e r v a t i o n s a l s o [ 21.

Ongoing experimental confirmation and development of sensing techniques based

upon t h i s
concept have been conducted
by Crombie and are
discussed in his paper
a t t h i s m e e t i n g [ 61.
Rather than qepeating his experimental observationshere,thereader
is r e f e r r e d t o h i s p a p e r .
Instead, w e w i l l b r i e f l y d e s c r i b e s e v e r a l
remote sensing configurations here which are based
upon t h i s p r i n c i p l e .
More . d e t a i l e da n a l y s e s of
t h e s e are available elsewhere [ 2 , 6 ] .

A s t a t i o n a r y ground-based backscatter radar

which can employ s e v e r a l carrier frequencies
i n t h e lower HF andupper MF region can
provide estimates of the nondirectional
waveheightspectrum, as shown i n Crombie'sFig.
2 [ 61.
By l o c a t i n g t h i s b a c k s c a t t e r r a d a r
on a moving
ship, the ship velocity
imparts a Doppler b i a s
to the signal spectrum which can permit measurement of the directional waveheight spectrum [ 21
By placing a t r a n s m i t t e r on a buoy ( o r s h i p ) and
a r e c e i v e r b i s t a t i c a l l y on a non-synchronons
s a t e l l i t e , the directional waveheight spectrum
near the buoy can be obtained
[ 21
The d i r e c t i o n a l
waveheightspectrumca:
Is0 beobtainedfrombis t a t i c a l l y s e p a r a t e d ground-based t r a n s m i t t e r and
[ 2 ] ; this has been verireceiver configurations
fied experimentally and r e p o r t e d i n P e t e r s o n e t . a l .
.[71

HF/VHF

Second-OrderBragg

Scatter

The first-order theory discussed above

shows
that the received radar Doppler spectrum from
t h e sea should consist of two narrow s p i k e s
(impulsefunctions),andnothing
else. The
dominance of t h e two s p i k e s o b s e r v e d i n e x p e r i -

* For

other polarizations and bistatic

d i r e c t i o n s ,s e eB a r r i c k
121.

OCEAN '72-187

mental records below about 5

MHz i s s t r i k i n g ;
note Fig. I of Crombie [61, made a t 2.9 MHz.
I n t h e h i g h e r HF and VHF region, however, two
e f f e c t s become evident upon examination of
measuredDoppler
s p e c t r a :( 1 )t h ef i r s t - o r d e r
"spikes" becomes broader, and(2)a
larger,
continuous "floor" between and near the spikes
i s s e e n t o exist, o f t e n c o n s i s t i n g ofpeaks
n e a rt h ef i r s t - o r d e rs p i k e s .
It was suggested
byHasselmann [ 81 and Barrick [ 9 , 2 ] t h a t t h e s e
second-orderpeaksnearthefirst-orderspikes
should in themselves be measures of the ocean
waveheightspectrum.
A r e c e n t example ofsuch a signal spectrum i s
shown i n F i g . 1; t h i s was measured a t 30 MHz
with a ground-wave b a c k s c a t t e r r a d a r ( v e r t i c a l l y
p o l a r i z e d ) by Tyler e t . a l .[ l o ] .S p e c t r a l

i n e v i t a b l e w i t h s u c h sky-wave s e a - s c a t t e r r e c o r d s ;
t h e r e i s a l s o a small percentage of the time when
disturbedionosphericconditionsprecludesuch
measurements e n t i r e l y .

'1 I I '1
I I 1 I
rlormalized values
I

-10

<
a

shift = + 0.07Hz

-20

L.

5a
v)
'0
0

.-01

-30

Q,

.+

0 -40
Q,

a
I

-1.5

-IO

I
-0.5

I
05

f-fo
,Normollzed

g/rx

I
1.0

I
15

I
20

2 5

Doppler Shtfl

-50

Fig. 1. Sea echoDopplerspectrum

a t 30 MHz f o r
near-grazing backscatter, vertical polarization:
January 25,1972
[ A f t e rT y l e r ,e t .
a l . , 101.

I1

-60

p r o c e s s i n g b e t t e r t h a n 0,001 Hz w a s obtained,
and some s p a t i a l / s p e c t r a l a v e r a g i n g was done t o
smooth t h er e c o r d .W h i l eq u a n t i t a t i v ed e t a i l s
of the actual ocean waveheights in the
measurement area were not available, the winds
were
observed to be fairly high
andtoward t h e r a d a r ,
r e s u l t i n gi nf a i r l y
rough seas. The f i r s t - o r d e r
Bragg l i n e s are evident--very near their pred i c t e d p o s i t i o n s of 0.56 Hz; landechoappears
a s a narrow s p i k e a t zeroDoppler.
The presense
of two peaks near the first-order echoes
is
quiteevident;these
peaksmerge i n t o a continuum,
which r o l l s o f f t o t h e s y s t e m n o i s e l e v e l a b o v e
andbelow
t h e Bragg spikes.Tyler,
et. a l ,
observe that for this record, about one-half the
t o t a l s e a e c h o power appears in these secondorder sidebands.
A f u r t h e r exampleof
such a sea-scatter spectrum
made via ionospheric propagation
i s shown i n
Fig. 2. This was measuredby Barnum ( s e e
B a r r i c k [ 2 ] ) a t 25.75 MHz a t a distance of
2700 km
from t h er a d a ri ns o u t h e r nC a l i f o r n i a .
Barnum's
equipment permitted a s p e c t r a l r e s o l u t i o n of
0.04 Hz, and some s p a t i a l a v e r a g i n g was done t o
smooth t h er e c o r d .I nt h ei l l u m i n a t e da r e a
of t h e
waves) were predominantly
Pacific, winds (and
toward t h e west (away from the radar), producing
highernegativeDopplers.
The broadened f i r s t o r d e r Doppler s p i k e s , p r e d i c t e d t o b e
3=0.518
Hz
from t h e r e t u r n i n g c a r r i e r , are c l e a r l y e v i d e n t .
Some
Second-orderspikes are a g a i np r e s e n t .
s p e c t r a l s m e a r i n g due to ionospheric motions
is

188-OCEAN '72

I I

si I I
-1.0

II

- 0.5

0.5

I.o

Doppler Frequency, Hz
Fig. 2. SeaechoDopplerspectrum
a t 25.75 MHz f o r
ionosphericallypropagatedbackscatter:
March 3 0 ,
1971[After Barnum, see [2] 1

Barrick [ 21 has shown t h e o r e t i c a l l y t h a t b o t h

hydrodynamicand electromagnetic second-order
effectsproducethe
peaksandcontinuumnear
t h ef i r s t - o r d e rs p e c t r a ls p i k e s .
An i n t e g r a l
representation for the average backscattered
spectrum, o(v), ( 7 = w
tuo) c a n b e w r i t t e n i n
terms of the first-order directional waveheight
spectrum S ( K ) = S ( 5 , M. ) asfollows:
Y

A ground-wavegeometry i s assumed, with propagation

alongthe
x-axis.
The k e r n a l of t h ei n t e g r a l ,
r(Zl, -K ~ ) , accountsforbothelectromagnetic and
hydrodynamic e f f e c t s . The former a r eo b t a i n e d from
thesecond-orderterms
of the Rice boundary perturbationtheory[2],andindicatea
double-bounce
Bragg-reflection mechanism. The hydrodynamiccon-

varied with the slope of the longer gravity

waves
passingthroughtherangegate.Spectrumanalysis
of
this amplitude w i l l indirectly yield the slope spectrum
of thelonger"sea
state" waves.Thisslopespectrum
is o fc o u r s ed i r e c t l yr e l a t e dt ot h ew a v e h e i g h t
spectrum by a factor consisting of the square
of t h e
wavenumber. The short-pulsetechniquementionedhere
was examined experimentally and theoretically
by
S o v i e t i n v e s t i g a t o r s [ 111.

whose e f f e c t i v e l e n g t h is of the order of

a foot),
n e c e s s i t a t i n g c a r e f u l a n a l y s i s and i n t e r p r e t a t i o n
t o e x t r a c t t h e mean s u r f a c e p o s i t i o n a t the suborbit a l point from t h es e a - d i s t o r t e ds i g n a l .
A byproduct
of t h i s processing--which t o some presently appears
t o b e a more s i g n i f i c a n t u s e of t h e a l t i m e t e r t h a n
maps of the mean s u r f a c e p r o f i l e - - i s t h e s i g n i f i c a n t
waveheight of the ocean wavesbelow t h e s a t e l l i t e .

The i n t e r a c t i o n mechanism between the pulse of

microwave energyandtherough
sea i n t h i s c a s e
An a l t e r n a t i v e t o t h e s h o r t - p u l s e e x p e r i m e n t d i s c u s s e d
is
Bragg s c a t t e r . A r a d asri g n a l
whose
above can provide the
same information--based upon
wavelength i s s h o r t compared t o t h e l a r g e r diment h e same mechanism--but eliminates the need f o r a
sions of theocean waves is backscattered from
Fourier transform of the received signal envelope.
(i.e., t h e s u b o r b i t a l
I nt h i se x p e r i m e n t ,
two frequencies are simultaneously t h e r e g i o n n e a r t h e v e r t i c a l
r e g i o n )v i at h es p e c u l a rp o i n t
mechanism. This
transmitted.Thiscanbeaccomplishedby
a balanced
means t h a to n l yt h o s e
wave f a c e t s whose normals
..
modulator a t t h e t r a n s m i t t e r o u t p u t .
The frequency
point toward theradarproduce
scatter. This i s
f l ,r e s u l t si n
a "Separation
s e p a r a t i o n , Af = f,
t h e same mechanism as t h e d a n c i n g g l i t t e r p o i n t s
wavenumber, It A&. = 2nllfIc.While
scatter a t t h e two
one o b s e r v e s v i s u a l l y due t o t h e b i s t a t i c s c a t t e r
UHF frequencies,f,
and f,, t a k e sp l a c ev i at h e
of the sun or
moon o f f a rough l a k e i n t h e r e g i o n
f a m i l i a r Bragg mechanism, the slopes of the longer,
n e a rt h es p e c u l a rd i r e c t i o n .
The r e f l e c t i o n from
underlying gravity waves c a u s e t h e s c a t t e r e d
power
eachspecular(orglitter)point
i s proportional
a t t h e two frequencies to become less c o r r e l a t e d a s
in strength to the surface radii
of c u r v a t u r e a t
t h ef r e q u e n c i e s are more widelyseparated.Results
t h a t p o i n t , and t h e s i g n a l s from various points
of an a n a l y s i s of t h i s t e c h n i q u e [ 2 ,
121 show t h a t
combine incoherently due t o random phase differences
the covariance of the received
power a t t h e two
between them.
frequencies for a one-dimensionallyroughsurface
model a t a given backscatter angle,
8, from t h e
The analysis of the sea-scattered signal observed
by
v e r t i c a l is e x p r e s s i b l e as
a short-pulsealtimeterviathespecularpointtheory
(i.e., e i t h e r a geometrical o r p h y s i c a l o p t i c s
Var [P(Ak)] = K1 + K, WsL (2Ah s i n 8 ) , ( 4 )
. Miller
formulation) has been performed elsewhere.
where K1 and K, are constants (functions of the
geome- and Hayne[13]used a simple model f o r s p e c u l a r f a c e t
s c a t t e r ;t h er e a d e r
is r e f e r r e dt oB a r r i c k[ 2 ]f o r
t r y and t h ep u l s ei l l u m i n a t i o np a t t e r n ) .
WSL(U) is
a straight-forwardderivationin
terms of the complete
the one-dimensional slope spectrum of the longer
andsimpleGaussian
models f o r
g r a v i t y waves.Equation
( 4 ) shows a s u r p r i s i n g r e s u l t ; specular point theory
t h er a d a rp a t t e r n s .T h i sl e a d st ot h ef o l l o w i n g
the slopes of the longer gravity
waves a p p e a r t o be
closed-form solution for the product
of t h e r a d a r
measured by a Bragg-scatter process occurring
at
c r o s s s e c t i o n times theantennagains--as
a function
carrier frequency Af, producing a sampling s p a t i a l
of time--whichappears
i n Equation (1) f o r t h e rewavenumber 2Ah s i n 8. Thus thefrequencyseparation,
ceived altimeter power:
Af, should be varied between about
1.5 and 15 MHz t o
measure t h e wave spectrum of the longer "sea s t a t e "
waves.

This technique, while as yet untested experimentally,

has many p o t e n t i a l a d v a n t a g e s , p r i m a r i l y i n e q u i p ment s i m p l i c i t i e s . Two frequencieswith less than
2 percent maximum s e p a r a t i o n i n terms o f t h e c a r r i e r
are e a s i e r t o g e n e r a t e i n a quasi-CW manner than
implementation of a short-pulse system with
a
spectrumanalyzer a tt h er e c e i v e ro u t p u t .T h i s
system could ultimately find application in airborne
or satellite platforms, either separately or in bis t a t i c conjunction with shipboard receivers.
Short-Pulse Radar Altimetry
Considerableinterestinthepast
two yearshas
turned to another remote-sensing technique for
o c e a np r o f i l eo b s e r v a t i o n s :t h es h o r t - p u l s e
s a t e l l i t e - b o r n e microwave r a d a r altimeter.
I n i t i a l l y such experiments were conceived for
geodeticpurposes,whichcouldmeasuretheinstantaneous mean sea level t o a precision of about
10 cm, thus obtaining maps of the geoid and slopes
of grossoceanictrenches.
I t w a s recognized, however, that waveheight of the order
of twenty
f e e t o r more would s t r e t c h a short pulse (e.g.,
one

190-OCEAN '72

where

H = a l t i m e t e rh e i g h t
; s = rms s u r f a c es l o p e ;
7 = half-powerpulsewidth
; s NN . 0 7 4 G i n
terms of wind
speed, m / s

~i~ = one-way half-powerantenna

xw=

CT/

m ) ; tp = 2 J g

beamwidth ;
+ 2h21c ;

and h i s t h e rms waveheight. The f u n c t i o n 9

i s t h ee r r o rf u n c t i o n .
I t i s assumedherethat
t h e altimeter beam i s p o i n t e d d i r e c t l y toward t h e
v e r t i c a l and t h a t a n unskewed Gaussian function
representstheheightdistribution
of t h e ocean
waves.
The constants t p and ts h a v e i n t e r e s t i n g p h y s i c a l
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s : tP i s t h ee f f e c t i v el e n g t ho f
the stretched pulse
a f t e r s c a t t e r from t h e waves
ts i s t h e
d i s t r i b u t e d o v e r a plane surface, while
(temporal)depthoftheeffectivescatteringregion
o nt h es p h e r i c a le a r t hs u r f a c e .I f
t s >> t,, the

altimeter is s a i d t o b e p u l s e - l i m i t e d i n
iti operaextreme is c a l l e d beam-limited
tion;theopposite
operation(seeBarrick[2]for
more d e t a i l s ) .S a t e l l i t e a l t i m e t e r s a r e n e a r l y always pulse-limited bec a u s eo ft h e i ra l t i t u d e
andantennasizes.Insuch
operation, the slope of the leading
edgeof t h e ret u r n is influenced by sea s t a t e .T h i s
is i l l u s t r a t e d
by p r e d i c t i o n s from t h e model i n F i g . 5 f o r a s a t e l a t 435 km, w i t h a beanwidthof 3',andwhose
effective
pulse width i s less than15ns.

Sumnary
Of the concepts presented here, the
MFH
/ F firsto r d e r Bragg s c a t t e r t e c h n i q u e s a r e t h e
mostadvanced,
b o t h a n a l y t i c a l l y and experimentally; they are perhaps t h e most l i m i t e d i n long-term p o t e n t i a l b e c a u s e
of therequiredwidefrequency
bandof o p e r a t i o n
and limited remote-sensing coverage area per station,
The second-order HF/VHF concept shows g r e a t p o t e n t i a l
f o r land-based distant sensing of large ocean areas
viaionosphericpropagation.
The UHF two-frequency
technique must b e d e v e l o p e d f u r t h e r t o d e f i n i t e l y
establish its f e a s i b i l i t y ; i n a i r b o r n e o r s a t e l l i t e s h i p a p p l i c a t i o n s , it couldprovideseveralimportant
p i e c e so fd a t aa b o u ts e as t a t e .S h o r t - p u l s es a t e l l i t e a l t i m e t r y i s proven experimentally; while providing only the significant waveheight along the
o r b i t a l p l a n e , it c o u l d p e r h a p s b e t h e f i r s t t e c h nique to reach the operational stage, providing
needed sea-state information over large ocean areas
on a d a i l y b a s i s .

.0.4

. 0.3

References

.0.2

B. Kinsman, Wind Waves,Englewood C l i f f s ,

New J e r s e y :P r e n t i c e - H a l l ,I n c . ,
1965.

. 0.1
I

-90-80-70-60-50-40-30-20 -10 0

IO

I
I
20 30 40 x) 60 70 BO 90

Time, nanoseconds

Fig. 5.Leadingedgeofaveraged
altimeter output
versus time predicted for pulse-limited operation.

is a v a i l a b l e from
Limited experimental confirmation
aircraftquasi-pulselimitedaltimeteroperation.
Two such records made byRaytheon a r e shown h e r e i n
Fig. 6 ( s e eB a r r i c k[ 2 ]f o rd e t a i l s ) .S u r f a c e
winds i n each case were measured a t -12 and 22 knots.
From t h e rise times o f t h e s i g n a l s , t h e
windspeeds
i n f e r r e d from Equation (5), along with the dependence
of waveheight upon wind speed given i n t h e I n t r o d u c t i o n ,
are 14.1and 21.2 knots. Thus p r e l i m i n a r yv e r i f i c a t i o n of t h e model is encouraging.
-I-

J. R. Wait, "Theory of HF ground wave

b a c k s c a t t e r fromseawaves",
J . Geophys.
Res., V O ~ . 7 1 , pp.4839-4842, 1966.
D. E. Barrick,"First-ordertheory
and
a n a l y s i s of MF/H!?/VHF s c a t t e r from t h e
s e a " , IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat.
,
V O ~ .AP-20, pp. 2-10, 1972.

A . M. Peterson, C . C. Teague, and G . L.

Tyler,"Bistaticradarobservation
of
l o n p p e r i o d d i r e c t i o n a l ocean-wave sDectra
w i t h LORAN A", Science,vol.170,
pp. 158-162, 1970.

flight *I6

Run *9
H- IO kft

~=20nsec

t,=mnSec

Measured wind = 22 knots

Calculated wind =21.2knots

D. D. Crombie,"Doppler
spectrumofsea
echo a t 13.56Mc/s",Nature,vol.175,
pp. 681-682,1955.

D D. .
Crombie , "Resonant b a c k s c a t t e r
from t h e s e a and i t s a p p l i c a t i o n t o
physicaloceanography",ConferenceRecord,
1972 I E E E International Conference on
Engineering in the
Ocean Environment,
(Newport, Rhode I s l a n d ,S e p t .
13-15,1972).

Flight *I4
Run *I2
H = IO kft
r=20!onSec

t, = 21 nSeC
Measured wind = E knofs
Calculated wind = 14.1 knots

-I F tr=21nsec

D. E. B a r r i c k , "Remote sensing of sea

s t a t e by r a d a r " , i n Remote Sensing of t h e
Troposphere, V. E . Derr, Ed. Washington,
D.C.: U . S . Government P r i n t i n g O f f i c e ,
1972,Chapter12.

K. Hasselmann,"Determination
of ocean
wave s p e c t r a fromDoppler r e t u r n from t h e
sea surfacell, Nature- Physical Science ,
V O ~ . 229, pp. 16-17,1971.

Fig. 6. Measured a i r c r a f ta l t i m e t e rr e s p o n s e s .
Wind
speeds inferred from rise times a r e compared t o
observed wind speeds.

OCEAN '72-191

[9] D. E. Barrick, "Dependence of secondorder Doppler sidebands in HF sea echo

upon sea state", in 1971
G-AP Inter(Los Angeles,
national Symposium Digest,
Calif., Sept. 21-24, 1971), pp. 194-197,
1971.

[lo] G. L. Tyler, W. E. Faulkerson, A. M.

Peterson, and C. C. Teague, "Second-order
scattering from the sea:Ten meter wavelength observationsof Doppler continuum",
to be published, Scieuce, 1972.

. .

D Zamarayev andA. I. Kalmykov, "On

the possibility of determining the spatial
structure of an agitated ocean surface by
of
means of radar", Izvestia USSR Academy
Sciences-Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics,
V O ~ . 5, pp. 64-66, 1969.

[ 111 B

[12] G. T . Ruck, D. E. Barrick, and

T. Kaliszewski, "Bistatic radar sea-state

monitoring", Battelle, Columbus Laboratories, Columbus,Ohio, Res. Rep.,
Contract NAS6-2006, December, 1971.
[13] L. S. Miller and G. S. Hayne, "System
study of the geodetic altimeter concept",

Research Triangle Institute, Research

Triangle Park, North Carolina, Final Rep.,
Contract NAS6-1829, March, 1971.

192-OCEAN '72