Approximate numerical modeling of microwave bistatic scattering (BS) from anisotropic rough surfaces, simulating large baselines radar bistatic system, is analyzed in this contribution. The investigation is performed in the framework of the SAOCOM-CS scientific satellite mission, a small satellite under design by the European Space Agency, to be associated with the Argentinian SAOCOM 1B satellite, aiming at collecting bistatic radar data at L-band. Similar bistatic concepts are being investigated at C-band as well. The main features of the normalized radar cross section (NRCS) of the sea surface in different operating conditions are discussed. This represents the first step to assess the potentiality of bistatic radar observations of natural surfaces with large baseline, and to gather valuable information on the bistatic scattering properties for the design of future spatial missions.

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The normalized radar cross section (NRCS) measured by satellite ocean radar systems is representative of the sea surface roughness at the scale of gravity-capillary waves, which are not only dominated by winds, but also modulated by some secondary factors such as sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface salinity (SSS). In this paper, the variations of NRCS due to SST changes, depending on scatterometer radar frequency, polarization, and incidence angle, are investigated on the basis of a physics-based radar backscatter model and a dataset of collocated ASCAT C-band and RapidScat Ku-band scatterometer measurements. The study shows that the SST effects are substantial at Ku-band, but rather negligible for C-band NRCS measurements. Furthermore, the SST effects are wind speed dependent and more pronounced in VV polarization and at higher incidence angles. SSS effects, due to dielectric constant, surface tension, and dynamic viscosity variations, on scatterometer winds are limited (within 1%). This study concludes that it is necessary to take SST into account in scatterometer wind retrieval for radar wavelengths smaller than C-band.

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A radar scatterometer operates by transmitting a pulse of microwave energy toward the ocean’s surface and measuring the normalized (per-unit-surface) radar backscatter coefficient (r8). The primary application of scatterometry is the measurement of near-surface ocean winds. By combining r 8 measurements from different azimuth angles, the 10 m vector wind can be determined through a Geophys- ical Model Function (GMF), which relates wind and backscatter. This paper proposes a mission concept for the measurement of both oceanic winds and surface currents, which makes full use of earlier C-band radar remote sensing experience. For the determination of ocean currents, in particular, the novel idea of using two chirps of opposite slope is introduced. The fundamental processing steps required to retrieve surface currents are given together with their associated accuracies. A detailed description of the mission proposal and comparisons between real and retrieved surface currents are presented. The proposed ocean Doppler scatterometer can be used to generate global surface ocean current maps with accuracies better than 0.2 m/s at a spatial resolution better than 25 km (i.e., 12.5 km spatial sampling) on a daily basis. These maps will allow gaining some insights on the upper ocean mesoscale dynamics. The work lies at a frontier, given that the present inability to measure ocean currents from space in a consistent and synoptic manner repre- sents one of the greatest weaknesses in ocean remote sensing. @en