Theoretical statistical relationships between the intensities of an image of the sea surface and its slopes: a result comparison of rect and Gaussian glitter functions

Abstract. The reflection of the sunlight over the sea surface is called glitter pattern. In previous works where the one-dimensional case was analyzed, the glitter function was mathematically described by a rect function. This rect function has proven to be a very good representation of the glitter pattern. A Gaussian glitter function is used like a first approximation to the rect function. The statistical relationship between the variance and the correlation function of the intensities of the image, the glitter pattern, and the variance of the sea surface slopes are obtained and analyzed. The analytical solutions for these relationships are given by different equations; however, the graphic representations are very similar.