SIMULATED OCEAN RADAR IMPULSE RESPONSE FROM LUNAR RADAR MEASUREMENTS

Measurements of the radar impulse response from rough surfaces should provide criteria for relating the radar return with the vertical structure of these surfaces. Such information is needed to use more efficiently ocean satellite radar observations for describing sea surface structure. While no direct measurements of the radar impulse response are available from a fluid surface, the NRL lunar high-range-resolution radar observations can pro- vide equivalent radar impulse response measurements from a solid rough surface. The lunar radar measurements were used to simulate the ocean impulse response, and thus provide some insight into the effect of different surface roughnesses on the radar return. The radar returns from five lunar areas of different surface roughness were analyzed and the impulse response derived. The results indicate that the size of the vertical structure correlates with the width of the impulse response, and that quantita- tive information concerning the parameters of mean height and surface roughness can be obtained by computing the power centroid and standard deviation of the impulse response. However, due to the nonuniform distribution of the lunar surface features, the two parameters will depend on the particular location of the surface features and the scanning speed of the radar observations. (Author)

• Corporate Authors:

  Naval Research Laboratory

  Stennis Space Center, MS  United States  39529-5004
• Authors:
  • Shapiro, A
  • Yaplee, B S
  • Uliana, E A
• Publication Date: 1970-7-7

Media Info

• Pagination: 22 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Radar; Simulation
• Old TRIS Terms: Radar simulators
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00007520
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 30 1970 12:00AM