Experimental modeling of electromagnetic wave scattering from an ocean surface based on chaotic theory

Abstract Electromagnetic wave scattering from an ocean surface has a long history ofbeing modeled as a stochastic process. In this paper, we demonstrate experimentally that the random nature of electromagnetic scattering may be described by a chaotic phenomenon. Data used in this paper were collected by two different radar systems at different sites. Our analysis is divided into three parts: correlation dimension analysis, local divergence analysis and predictive modeling. All three tests positively point to a conclusion that chaos may be a suitable phenomenon to describe electromagnetic wave scattering from an ocean surface.