Experimental study of the microwave radar Doppler spectrum backscattered from the sea surface at low incidence angles

Abstract

Measurements of the sea surface backscatter at low incidence angles were performed using Ka-band Doppler radars from the offshore platform in the Black Sea in October of 2016. One of the radars has a symmetrical antenna beam; the other one has a knife-like antenna beam. Incidence angles varied from nadir to 20° during experiments. In this paper the first results of experimental data processing are presented and the dependency of Doppler frequency shift, Doppler width and radar cross section on incidence angle are analyzed. Data acquired in the experiments can be used for validation of theoretical models.