The effect of inhomogeneous roughness on radar backscattering from slightly deformed sea ice

This paper focuses on the spatially varying backscattering signature of an area of refrozen brash ice observed by a ship based scatterometer. The measurements were carried out as part of the Baltic Experiment for ERS-1 in 1994. The scatterometer was operated at 5.4 GHz at different incidence angles and polarizations. By analysing the scatterometer data over azimuth scans, it was found that the backscattering variabilities are not only due to fading but also contain a textural component. Surface height profiles were measured using a laser. The observed ice surface roughness was nonstationary over the measurement area. The ice surface can be approximated by adjacent patches of stationary roughness with patch dimensions of about 4.5 m. From the roughness spectra of different stationary patches, two roughness classes can be distinguished. The implications of estimating the roughness parameters from relatively short profile lengths is discussed and the effect on theoretical predictions of the backscattering coefficient is investigated. The texture variance is evaluated theoretically on the basis of the simulated backscattering coefficients of the two observed roughness classes and is found to compare with the scatterometer data.