ASA 129th Meeting - Washington, DC - 1995 May 30 .. Jun 06

5aUW10. A physically motivated model for sea surface backscattering in the low to moderate frequency regime.

Richard S. Keiffer

Naval Res. Lab., Code 7181, Stennis Space Center, MS 39529

Jorge C. Novarini

Planning Systems, Inc., Slidell, LA 70458

Based on the refractive properties of the bubble clouds and the background (uniform) bubble layer and resonant scattering at the sea surface, a simple model is presented to estimate the backscattering from the ocean surface for frequencies below 1 kHz. This new model yields a dependence on the three fundamental variables, wind speed, grazing angle, and frequency, that is in general agreement with trends observed in reverberation-derived backscattering data. [Work supported by ONR.]