Depolarization in microwave scatterometry

Recent observations of microwave backscatter from breaking gravity waves indicate that the cross-polarized signals (HV and VH) are much larger than expected from theoretical predictions derived using perturbative methods. Experiments have been conducted to specifically examine the depolarization effects of scattering from breaking waves which give rise to such large cross-polarized signals. A simple model is constructed to provide the scattering mechanism which can explain the scattering results.