A Discrete Random Medium Model for Electromagnetic Wave Interactions with Sea Spray

− Understanding the electromagnetic interactions with sea spray is of interest for many applications such as satellite or terrestrial communications, remote sensing systems for surveillance and meteorology. The water droplets in spray are a key factor in the energy transfer between the atmosphere and the ocean, which can help the wind speed retrieval algorithms for the global climate models. Furthermore, the presence of these droplets along the propagation path interferes with both land-based and satellite based remote sensing of the ocean surface. This paper investigates the backscatter response from sea spray, which is modeled as a layer of water droplets over a rough ocean surface. The distorted Born approximation technique is used in conjunction with the analytical wave theory to compute backscattering from the medium.