Absorption and Scattering by Sea Foam Streaks at Millimeter-Wave Frequencies

We quantify the attenuation of electromagnetic radiation by foam structures at millimeter-wave frequencies. This is one aspect of a project aiming to assess the feasibility of using millimeter-wave frequencies for remote sensing of air-sea processes. We use generalized multi-particle Mie scattering to obtain the absorption, scattering and extinction efficiency factors for foam streaks. The calculations are made for multiple frequencies (from 1 to 183 GHz), foam streak lengths (from 2 mm to 10 m), and bubble size parameters (from 0.04 to 8). The generated data allow investigation of the dependencies of foam efficiency factors on frequency, streak length, and size parameter.