Simulations of sea surface reflection for V-band O2 differential absorption radar barometry

This study simulates V-band sea surface reflectance and normalized radar cross-section (NRCS) for sea surface air pressure barometry using a differential absorption radar operating at three spectrally even spaced close frequency bands (65.5, 67.75 and 70.0 GHz) with ± 15° cross-track scanning angle. The reflectance ratios of two neighboring frequency pairs and the ratio of the two ratios or three-channel approach are the focus of this study. Impacts of major sea surface geophysical variables such as sea surface temperature, wind, salinity, whitecap, and incidence angle on these reflection properties are analyzed. The reflection simulation is essentially based on geometric optics of rough sea surface. Simulation shows that NRCS values are sufficiently strong within the scanning angle and sea surface salinity would only introduce minimal variations in the surface reflection. The impact of sea surface reflection variations with sea surface temperature, wind, and whitecaps on sea surface barometry are mitigated when the ratios of frequency-paired radar signals are used. Furthermore, the ratios of a three-channel approach are very close to unity and calibration or compensation for the reflectance ratios may not be needed for sea level pressure retrievals. These results improve our understanding of sea surface reflection variations and would help the system design and development.