A Probabilistic Model of the Apparent Radiance of a Rough Sea.

Abstract

A widely used approach to the specification of the background statistics of wind driven sea states is the power spectral method. Coupled with a ray trace of the sky radiance, one can create deterministic images of a rough sea in the infrared. In this paper a probabilistic model of a rough sea is presented as an alternative to the power spectral approach. The model takes into account self-shadowing of the sea surface which is important when the sea is viewed at near grazing angles. Given such a model, the apparent radiance of a rough sea is shown to emit a substantially lower amount of radiation when compared to a smooth sea. The sea, being a poor emitter of radiation at near grazing angles, reflects cool sky radiation from higher points in the sky and therefore looks colder than its blackbody temperature.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 04, 1988
Accession Number
ADA193867

Entities

People

  • I. B. Schwartz
  • R. G. Priest

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Crosswinds
  • Data Science
  • Detection
  • Equations
  • Grazing Angles
  • Information Science
  • Infrared Signatures
  • Probabilistic Models
  • Probability
  • Probability Density Functions
  • Probability Distributions
  • Radiation
  • Random Variables
  • Sea Level
  • Standards
  • Statistics
  • Wind

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science
  • Physics

Readers

  • Atmospheric Remote Sensing.
  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers
  • Radar Systems Engineering.