The emissivity of foam-covered water surface at L-band: Theoretical modeling and experimental results from the frog 2003 field experiment

Type Article
Date 2005-05
Language English
Author(s) Camps A1, Vall-Ilossera M1, Villarino R1, Reul NicolasORCID2, Chapron Bertrand2, Corbella I1, Duffo N1, Torres F1, Miranda Jj1, Sabia R1, Monerris A1, Rodriguez R1
Affiliation(s) 1 : Univ Politecn Catalunya, Dept Signal Theory & Commun, E-08034 Barcelona, Spain.
2 : IFREMER, Dept Oceanog Phys & Spatiale, Lab Oceanog Spatiale, F-29280 Plouzane, France.
Source Ieee Transactions On Geoscience And Remote Sensing (0196-2892) (Ieee-inst Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc), 2005-05 , Vol. 43 , N. 5 , P. 925-937
DOI 10.1109/TGRS.2004.839651
WOS© Times Cited 46
Keyword(s) brightness temperature, emission, foam, microwave radiometry, salinity, sea
Abstract Sea surface salinity can be measured by microwave radiometry at L-band (1400-1427 MHz). This frequency is a compromise between sensitivity to the salinity, small atmospheric perturbation, and reasonable pixel resolution. The description of the ocean emission depends on two main factors: 1) the sea water permittivity, which is a function of salinity, temperature, and frequency, and 2) the sea surface state, which depends on the wind-induced wave spectrum, swell, and rain-induced roughness spectrum, and by the foam coverage and its emissivity. This study presents a simplified two-layer emission model for foam-covered water and the results of a controlled experiment to measure the foam emissivity as a function of salinity, foam thickness, incidence angle, and polarization. Experimental results are presented, and then compared to the two-layer foam emission model with the measured foam parameters used as input model parameters. At 37 psu salt water the foam-induced emissivity increase is -0.007 per millimeter of foam thickness (extrapolated to nadir), increasing with increasing incidence angles at vertical polarization, and decreasing with increasing incidence angles at horizontal polarization.
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Camps A, Vall-Ilossera M, Villarino R, Reul Nicolas, Chapron Bertrand, Corbella I, Duffo N, Torres F, Miranda Jj, Sabia R, Monerris A, Rodriguez R (2005). The emissivity of foam-covered water surface at L-band: Theoretical modeling and experimental results from the frog 2003 field experiment. Ieee Transactions On Geoscience And Remote Sensing, 43(5), 925-937. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2004.839651 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/10940/