Electromagnetic modeling of multipath scattering from breaking water waves with rough faces

The low-grazing-angle (LGA) backscattering from one-dimensionally rough surface profiles approximating breaking water waves with roughened front faces has been numerically examined. The added front-face roughness approximates that expected from wind generation. The reference "exact" backscattering was found using a numerical technique based on the moment method. A model-based approach to predict the backscattering was also implemented. In this, the crest scattering was found directly using the moment method, the multipath scattering was modeled using physical optics, and the distributed-surface scattering from the small-scale roughness was found from the two-scale model. The calculations show that the roughness adds incoherent components to both the vertically (VV) and horizontally (HH) polarized scattering cross sections. At VV, this is due to the random scattering from the small-scale roughness, while at HH it results from random changes in the multipath interference due to the large-scale roughness. As the mechanisms for the incoherent scattering are independent, it is difficult to predict the magnitude of the HH-to-VV backscattering ratio that will occur with specific realizations of the roughness from the underlying breaking-wave shape alone, particularly with large rms roughness added. Overall, the model-based calculations give a good prediction of both the coherent and incoherent scattering coefficients.