Modulation of radar signal reflected from rough surface by relief slope and soil electrodynamic-parameter inhomogeneities

Abstract

The authors study variations of the specific effective scattering surface (SESS) of a radar signal reflected from a rough surface with small irregularities due to changes in the slopes of the small-scale relief and inhomogeneities of the complex permittivity of the soil in the case of a surface resolution element whose linear dimensions are much smaller than the characteristic scale of the relief. In the opposite case, formulas are derived for corrections to the SESS that are proportional to the variance of the slopes of the large-scale relief. It is shown that the correction for horizontal polarization is greater than that for vertical; the effect of the three-dimensionality of the relief roughness is also greater. A nonzero SESS for orthogonal polarization is due to the presence of relief slopes across the plane of incidence.