Millimetre-wave radar measurements from laboratory surface waves

The paper presents results of millimetre wave radar backscattering from laboratory surface waves, in a linear flume and in a circular wave-tank at the Laboratoire des Ecoulements Geophysiques et Industriels, Grenoble, France. In the flume, mechanically generated waves as well as windwaves are detected by the mm-wave radar. In the Coriolis circular wave-tank, internal wave phenomena can be set-up and their effect on the surface, when interacting with a surface wave field, is sensed by the radar. The resulting data are analysed, considering the nature of the scatterers involved. It is concluded that the mm-wave radar is sensitive to very small hydrodynamic modulations.