Two-frequency microwave resonance measurements from an aircraft - A quantitative estimate of the directional ocean surface spectrum

The use of the two-frequency microwave-resonance technique for airborne measurements of ocean surface-wave spectral components is examined in a summary of experiments conducted with a coherent Ku-band radar flown on a P-3 aircraft in the 1979 MARSEN and 1980 ARSLOE projects. The 1D theoretical formulation used in the analysis of the MARSEN data by Johnson et al. (1982) is extended to the 2D case; the experimental conditions are described in detail; and typical data are presented graphically, analyzed, and compared with independent measurements obtained with a surface-contour radar. The 3.5-deg pencil-beam configuration used in ARSLOE is shown to produce spectra with good directional characteristics (strong resonances at angles of incidence 13-48 deg). It is found that the proper inversion of radar data to surface-elevation spectra requires surface-reflectivity-modulation sources in addition to the long-wave orbital velocity.