Polarimetric Characteristics of Radar Echoes from the Sea Surface as a Function of Incidence Angle

This paper presents some initial results of polarimetric radar measurements made over a range of look-down angles using the DSTO high resolution multi-band radar. Specifically, X-band polarimetric measurements of the sea were made from 95 m high cliffs along the Great Australian Bight, for look-down angles of 3deg, 4deg, 5deg, 10deg, 15deg, 20deg, 25deg and 30deg. The analysis is addressing scattering matrix element statistics, entropy-alpha space distributions and correlation with visible spectrum imagery.