Scattering cross sections for composite rough surfaces using the unified full wave approach

A unified expression for the like- and cross-polarized cross sections of signal backscatter off rough surfaces is developed using a full wave approach. Physical optics theory is applied to modeling specular scattering off a filtered surface and perturbation theory covers Bragg scattering consisting of the small scale spectral components. The results of a sample calculation for scattering off the sea surface are compared with those obtained with a two scale model. The full wave approximations for polarized backscatter do not account for depolarization during scatter at nonspecular points of the surface. However, the two-scale model does not quantify the cross-polarized backscatter cross sections.