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Nghiem, S. V.

Publications and source records attributed to Nghiem, S. V..

At least 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1995

Observations of Radar Backscatter at Ku and C Bands in the Presence of Large Waves during the Surface Wave Dynamics Experiment

Ocean radar backscatter in the presence of large waves is investigated using data acquired with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory NUSCAT radar at Ku band for horizontal and vertical polarizations and the University of Massachusetts CSCAT radar at C band for vertical polarization during the Surface Wave Dynamics Experiment. Off-nadir backscatter data of ocean surfaces were obtained in the presence of large waves with significant wave height up to 5.6 m. In moderate-wind cases, effects of large waves are not detectable within the measurement uncertainty and no noticeable correlation between backscatter coefficients and wave height is found. Under high-wave light-wind conditions, backscatter is enhanced significantly at large incidence angles with a weaker effect at small incidence angles. Backscatter coefficients in the wind speed range under consideration are compared with SASS-2 (Ku band), CMOD3-H1 (C band), and Plant's model results which confirm the experimental observations. Variations of the friction velocity, which can give rise to the observed backscatter behaviors in the presence of large waves, are presented.

Nghiem, S. V.↗
NASA NTRS1995

An Electrothermodynamic Model With Distributed Properties for Effective Permittivities of Sea Ice

This paper presents a model to calculate the temperature dependence of effective permittivities for a heterogeneous anisotropic medium containing multiphase scatters. With the strong permittivity fluctuation approach, the model is developed to account for the electrodynamic scattering effect together with the quasi-static characteristics of multiple species and subspecies of inhomogeneities with distributed orientations, sizes, and shapes.

sea↗
NASA NTRS1994

Observations of Ocean Radar Backscatter at K and C Bands in the Presence of Large Waves during the surface Wave Dynamics Experiment

Ocean rada backscatter in the presence of large waves is investigated using data acquired with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory NUSCAT radar at K band for horizontal and vertical polarizations and the University of Massachusetts C-SCAT radar at C band for vertical polarization during the Surface Wave Dynamics Experiment. Backscatter data of ocean surfaces was obtained in the presence of large waves with significant wave height up to 5.6m.

Rada Backscatter Waves Ocean↗
NASA NTRS1993

Polarimetric Remote Sensing of Geophysical Medium Structures

Polarimetric remote sensing of structures in geophysical media is studied in this paper based on their symmetry properties. Orientations of spheroidal scatterers described by spherical, uniform, planophile, plagiothile, erectophile, and extremophile distributions are considered to derive their polarimetric backscattering characteristics. These distributions can be identified from the observed scattering coefficients by comparison with theoretical symmetry calculations. A new parameter is defined to study scattering structures in geophysical media. Experimental observations from polarimetric data acquired by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory airborne synthetic aperture radar over forests, sea ice, and sea surface are presented to illustrate the use of symmetry properties. For forests, the coniferous forest in Mount Shasta area and mixed forests neir Presque Isle show evidence of the centrical symmetry at C band. In sea ice from the Beaufort Sea, multiyear sea ice has a cross-polarized ratio e close to e(sub 0), calculated from symmetry, due to the randomness in the scattering structure. For first-year sea ice, e is much smaller than e(sub 0) as a result of preferential alignment of the columnar structure of the ice. From polarimetric data of a sea surface in the Bering sea, it is observed that e and e(sub 0) are increasing with incident angle and e is greater than e(sub 0) at L band because of the directional feature of sea surface waves. Use of symmetry properties of geophysical media for polarimetric radar calibration is also suggested.

Nghiem, S. V.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Polarimetric Passive Remote Sensing of Wind-generated Sea Surfaces and Ocean Wind Vectors

This paper investigates the theory of polarimetric passive remote sensing of wind-generated sea surfaces. A two-scale polarimetric scattering and emission model of sea surfaces is developed to interpret existing active and passive remote sensing microwave signatures of sea surfaces, and to investigate the potential application of polarimetic radiometry to ocean surface winds.

Polarimetric Remote Sensing↗
NASA NTRS1993

A Model with Ellipsoidal Scatterers for Polarimetric Remote Sensing of Anisotropic Layered Media

This paper presents a model with ellipsoidal scatterers for applications to polarimetric remote sensing of anisotropic layered media at microwave frequencies. The physical configuration includes an isotropic layer covering an anisotropic layer above a homogeneous half space. The isotropic layer consists of randomly oriented spheroids. The anisotropic layer contains ellipsoidal scatterers with a preferential vertical alignment and random azimuthal orientations. Effective permittivities of the scattering media are calculated with the strong fluctuation theory extended to account for the nonspherical shapes and the scatterer orientation distributions. On the basis of the analytic wave theory, dyadic Green's functions for layered media are used to derive polarimetric backscattering coefficients under the distorted Born approximation. The ellipsoidal shape of the scatterers gives rise to nonzero cross-polarized returns from the untilted anisotropic medium in the first-order approximation. Effects of rough interfaces are estimated by an incoherent addition method. Theoretical results and experimental data are matched at 9 GHz for thick first-year sea ice with a bare surface and with a snow cover at Point Barrow, Alaska. The model is then used to study the sensitivity of polarimetric backscattering coefficients with respect to correlation lengths representing the geometry of brine inclusions. Polarimetric signatures of bare and snow-covered sea ice are also simulated based on the model to investigate effects of different scattering mechanisms.

Nghiem, S. V.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Low Wind Speed Radar Backscatter Measurements at C- and Ku-Band Obtained During the Surface Wave Dynamics Experiment

Radar backscatter measurements collected at both C- and Ku-Band during the recent SurfaceWaves Dynamics Experiment (SWADE) on 1 March 1991 show dramatic variabilities of thenormalized radar cross section (sigma degree) of the ocean surface at low wind speed. Additionally,measurements of the sigma degree in the cross wind direction fluctuated much more than the sigmadegree in the upwind direction. The C- and Ku-band data are quite similar, both exhibiting a morepronounced roll off of sigma degree with decreasing neutral stability wind than indicated bypreviously published empirical model functions. The data show extremely large azimuthalmodulations, in some cases greater than 20 dB, and show good qualitative agreement with theazimuthal modulation predicted.

Carson, S. C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Ku-band ocean radar backscatter observations during SWADE

We present results obtained by an airborne Ku-band scatterometer during the Surface Wave Dynamics Experiment (SWADE). The specific objective of this study is to improve our understanding of the relationship between ocean radar backscatter and near surface winds. The airborne scatterometer, NUSCAT, was flown on the NASA Ames C-130 over an instrumented oceanic area near 37 deg N and 74 deg W. A total of 10 flights from 27 Feb. to 9 Mar. 1991 were conducted. Radar backscatter at incidence angles of 0 to 60 deg were obtained. For each incidence angle, the NUSCAT antenna was azimuthally scanned in multiple complete circles to measure the azimuthal backscatter modulations. Both horizontal and vertical polarization backscatter measurements were made. In some of the flights, the cross-polarization backscatter was measured as well. Internal calibrations were carried out throughout each of the flights. Preliminary results indicate that the radar was stable to +/-0.3 dB for each flight. In this paper, we present studies of the backscatter measurements over several crossings of the Gulf Stream. In these crossings, large air-sea temperature differences were encountered and substantial changes in the radar cross section were observed. We summarize the observations and compare them to the changes of several wind variables across the Gulf Stream boundary. In one of the flights, the apparent wind near the cold side of the Gulf Stream was very low (less than 3 m/s). The behavior of the radar cross sections at such low wind speeds and a comparison with models are presented. A case study of the effects of swell on the absolute cross section and the azimuthal modulation pattern is presented. Significant wave heights larger than m were observed during SWADE. The experimentally observed effects of the swell on the radar backscatter are discussed. The effects are used to assess the uncertainties in wind retrieval due to underlying waves. A summary of azimuthal modulation from our ten-flight of NUSCAT data is given. Wind velocities, air and sea surface temperature, ocean spectrum, and other variables measured from aircraft and buoys are also shown.

Nghiem, S. V.↗