Accuracies of theoretical models for estimating reflection coefficients of rough sea surfaces

Abstract

In this paper, the accuracies of existing theoretical reflection models for rough sea surfaces are examined. At first, we generated the sea surfaces using Pierson-Moskowitz ocean spectrum at various wind speeds. We calculated the significant wave height, RMS (root mean square) height and correlation height from the generated sea surfaces. And the forward reflection coefficients of the sea surfaces were calculated using the moment method (MM) at various surface RMS heights and surface correlation lengths in accordance with wind speeds. We compared the MM results with the theoretical models such as the physical optics (PO) model, geometrical optics (GO) model, and Miller-Brown model. By comparing with the MM results, we found the validity regions for the theoretical models.